Week 10
HIV/AIDS, beersellers and critical community health
psychology in Cambodia: A case study
NOTE: I did not summarize this reading in depth [i.e. with stats etc]. For a
Page | 1
deeper understanding – page 124
Case study: health-promotion practices for marginalized groups facing critical
challenge in Cambodia – HIV/AIDS pandemic – using trusted concepts like:
o Empowerment
o Action research
o Participatory action research
o Grass-roots community participation
BACKGROUND OF PROJECT
NGO formed after a social psychologist learned of community’s vulnerable health
situation
Conducted needs assessment about patterns of community transmission +
determinants of sexual health
Critical concerns:
1. HIV/AIDS
2. Gendered educational inequalities forced women to become sex workers
3. Impact of poverty on social + health conditions
SiRCHESI was formed – Local stakeholders agreed to educate their community
members about HIV/AIDS
PROJECT ETHOS
Organized around empowerment via participation
Run by community stakeholders [health workers/educators, tour guides,
entertainment workers – supported by international advisors]
Community Level Interventions
, Week 10
SiRCHESI constantly conducts research for programme decisions can be informed
by evidence/evaluations as part of PAR framework
Bottom-up in nature + framed by community-generated suggestions for improvisation
in context
Page | 2
Their research + health intervention start with grassroots suggestions of community
stakeholders
o Seeks to promote behavior change + create social environments that support
+ enable it
o Alleviate inequalities of health, education, gender + socio-economic level
For individual community members – increase vulnerable citizens’ sense of
empowerment + agency over own lives
o People with positive experience in controlling life changes may also be likely
to take control over their own health
PROJECT STRATEGIES
1. Building knowledge + critical consciousness through peer education
2. Empowering women to change their lives: career alternatives
‘Toxic’ workplaces of beersellers + hostesses – linked to HIV risk, harmful/hazardous
nightly alcohol use, sexual coercion + violence
Unwillingness to provide living wages – forced to sell sex for economic survival
SO used SiRCHESI’s Hotel Apprenticeship Programme [HAP] to provide safer,
healthier work environments, long-term career path alternatives + living wages
through literacy training school
o Meaning of empowerment here: women have become empowered because
men no longer force them to drink beer + have sex, they choose to leave toxic
workplaces + follow another career path + selected partners + started families
o They are now assertive, manage finances, several have own business + plan
early education of children
Community Level Interventions
HIV/AIDS, beersellers and critical community health
psychology in Cambodia: A case study
NOTE: I did not summarize this reading in depth [i.e. with stats etc]. For a
Page | 1
deeper understanding – page 124
Case study: health-promotion practices for marginalized groups facing critical
challenge in Cambodia – HIV/AIDS pandemic – using trusted concepts like:
o Empowerment
o Action research
o Participatory action research
o Grass-roots community participation
BACKGROUND OF PROJECT
NGO formed after a social psychologist learned of community’s vulnerable health
situation
Conducted needs assessment about patterns of community transmission +
determinants of sexual health
Critical concerns:
1. HIV/AIDS
2. Gendered educational inequalities forced women to become sex workers
3. Impact of poverty on social + health conditions
SiRCHESI was formed – Local stakeholders agreed to educate their community
members about HIV/AIDS
PROJECT ETHOS
Organized around empowerment via participation
Run by community stakeholders [health workers/educators, tour guides,
entertainment workers – supported by international advisors]
Community Level Interventions
, Week 10
SiRCHESI constantly conducts research for programme decisions can be informed
by evidence/evaluations as part of PAR framework
Bottom-up in nature + framed by community-generated suggestions for improvisation
in context
Page | 2
Their research + health intervention start with grassroots suggestions of community
stakeholders
o Seeks to promote behavior change + create social environments that support
+ enable it
o Alleviate inequalities of health, education, gender + socio-economic level
For individual community members – increase vulnerable citizens’ sense of
empowerment + agency over own lives
o People with positive experience in controlling life changes may also be likely
to take control over their own health
PROJECT STRATEGIES
1. Building knowledge + critical consciousness through peer education
2. Empowering women to change their lives: career alternatives
‘Toxic’ workplaces of beersellers + hostesses – linked to HIV risk, harmful/hazardous
nightly alcohol use, sexual coercion + violence
Unwillingness to provide living wages – forced to sell sex for economic survival
SO used SiRCHESI’s Hotel Apprenticeship Programme [HAP] to provide safer,
healthier work environments, long-term career path alternatives + living wages
through literacy training school
o Meaning of empowerment here: women have become empowered because
men no longer force them to drink beer + have sex, they choose to leave toxic
workplaces + follow another career path + selected partners + started families
o They are now assertive, manage finances, several have own business + plan
early education of children
Community Level Interventions
