University of Malawi

Chancellor College

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

Department of Sociology
STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS HIV RISKY CULTURAL
PRACTICES: A CASE OF CHANCELLOR COLLEGE
UNDERGRADUATES

By
Chrispin Dambula
Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for a Bachelors Degree in Social
Science.
December 2006

ABSTRACT:
Cultural practices are among the factors that are enhancing the spread of HIV in the country. However,
research on HIV risky cultural practices in general is relatively rare among students. Furthermore,
studies on attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices are even less common. This exploratory
study therefore aimed at investigating students attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices as well
as the influence of the fear of the negative consequences of HIV on the attitudes. Findings of the study
show that the majority (94%) of the students are aware of HIV risky cultural practices, and their
attitudes depend on their knowledge about the consequences of the risky cultural practices.
The study used a quantitative approach and data was analysed using Statistical package for Social
Sciences (SPSS). It was considered necessary to conduct the study with college students because there
is less literature available in the area of students attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices.
Furthermore, understanding the cultural context in which the HIV/AIDS epidemic occurs and the
peoples perception of the cultural context is important as it may help develop effective HIV/AIDS
programmes. It is also expected that this study will generate important knowledge on HIV risky
cultural practices since not much studies have been done in this area in the country. In addition, the
study will provide a preliminary framework for future studies in the same area.

DEDICATION
To God.
Without Gods care, my family would not have been able to support my education.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks to Mr. and Mrs. J.M.W. Dambula, George Dambula, Dixy Dambula, Lydia
Dambula, Felix Dambula, Beauty Dambula, Wyson Dambula, Zione Dambula, Mdziwenji Dambula
and the entire Dambula family for love, support and care.
To my supervisor Dr. Alister Munthali, Dr. Pearson Ntata, Mr. Philip Kapulula and all staff in the
Department of Sociology at Chancellor College.
To my dear friend Joshua Peace Mkwehiwa whose company at Chancellor College gave me courage.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT:.....................................................................................................................................................i
DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................................................iii
LIST OF FIGURES.v
LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................................................vi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................6
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................10
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.................................................................................13
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS.......................................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................28
APPENDIX A: TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE.............................................................................................30
APPENDIX B: BINOMIAL DISTRIBUTION TABLES...........................................................................31
APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................................................32

iv

LIST OF FIGURES:
FIGURE 1:

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS ATTITUDES

TOWARDS HIV RISKY CULTURAL PRACTICES.5

LIST OF TABLES:
Table 1: Respondents opinion on the major mode of HIV transmission13
Table 2: Respondents knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices....14
Table 3: HIV risky cultural practices the respondents know....15
Table 4: Respondents knowledge of people who ever got involved in HIV risky cultural practices16
Table 5: Respondents opinions on whether they would recommend anyone to undergo an HIV risky
cultural practice.17
Table 6: Respondents opinions on whether to maintain risky cultural practices in the society...18
Table 7: Respondents views on the proposition that all HIV risky cultural practices should be
Abandoned..19
Table 8: Respondents opinions on whether both HIV risky and non risky cultural practices should be
treated equally to maintain discipline and order in the society.20
Table 9: Respondents opinions on the proposition that HIV continues to spread because messages do
not focus on risky cultural practices21
Table 10: Whether or not the respondents would agree to abandon all risky cultural practices to
reduce the spread of HIV. * Reason as to why the respondents would recommend or not
recommend anyone to undergo any of the risky cultural practices.30
Table 11: Whether or not the respondents would accept to maintain HIV risky cultural practices
because of their significant roles in the society. * Reason as to why the respondents would
recommend or not recommend anyone to undergo any of the risky cultural practices.30
Table 12: Respondents opinions on whether they would recommend anyone to undergo an HIV risky
cultural practice31
Table 13: Respondents opinions on whether to maintain risky cultural practices in the society.31
Table 14: Respondents views on the proposition that all HIV risky cultural practices should be
Abandoned..31
vi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

HIV/AIDS is the most awful calamity the earth has ever encountered. It has affected people all over the
world regardless of race, religion or financial status. In 2005, the number of people living with
HIV/AIDS world wide was estimated at 40.3 million and 57 percent of those infected were in subSaharan Africa (UNAIDS/WHO, 2005). In Malawi, the history of HIV/AIDS dates back to 1985 when
the first case of AIDS was diagnosed at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe (OPC and NAC, 2003).
That time almost 2 percent of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics were HIV positive and this
rose to an estimated 35 percent in 2000 (Kalipeni, 2000). Today, Malawi is considered to be one of the
countries in the world most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic with an HIV prevalence rate of 14
percent in the economically productive age group of 15-49 years (NAC, 2005). The National AIDS
Commission (2003) estimates that from 1985 until today, deaths among adults would have been 22 000
per year, but it has risen to 80 000 per year because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It further reports that
the actual accumulated number of AIDS deaths from the start of the epidemic to December 2003 was
over 641 000. At the end of the year 2003 it was estimated that 900 000 Malawians were infected with
HIV, and out of every four deaths today, three are caused by HIV/AIDS (NAC, 2004).
HIV/AIDS is claiming the lives of young and economically productive men and women leaving behind
orphans and the elderly. In 1987, the dependency ratio in Malawi was at 1.01 and by the year 1998
when the last census was conducted this had risen to 1.3 (National Economic Council, 2000) and this
increase has mainly been attributed to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as it is causing the death of productive
people. HIV/AIDS has also led to the decrease in life expectancy. In 1992 life expectancy was estimated
at 48 years and expected to rise to 57.4 years by the year 2000 (United Nations and Government of
Malawi, 1993). However, UNICEF (2002) reports that by 2000 life expectancy dropped to 40 years.
In Malawi, HIV is mainly transmitted through heterosexual intercourse. Reports have shown that the
prevailing cultural context has a strong impact on sexual behaviour which contributes to higher rates of
HIV in the country (SPU and NACP, 1999). Studies have been done which have identified some
cultural practices which enhance the spread of HIV, for example, Kupitakufa or kuchotsa milaza
(funerary cleansing rites), chokolo (wife inheritance) and initiation ceremonies (Maluwa-Banda, 2001).
These play a big role in moulding the behaviours of people in the country particularly the initiation
ceremonies. For instance, among other things during initiation ceremonies, initiates are encouraged to
experiment with sexual intercourse through kuchotsa fumbi (removing dust) tradition (Ibid). In other
communities, girls who are initiated engage in sexual intercourse with a man termed fisi (hyena) whose
1

role is to initiate girls into sexual intercourse. The problem here is that the fisi can sleep with several
girls without any protection, thereby putting the girls at a greater risk of contracting HIV (Munthali,
Chimbiri and Zulu, 2004).
The definition of culture offered in this proposal has been taken from Henslin (1999:44) which refers to
the complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, customs, and any other capabilities
and habits acquired by a person as a member of society. It is important because it serves as an identity
of a community and also helps to maintain positive morality and patriotism. In this proposal, cultural
practices shall refer to all traditional beliefs and practices that exist in Malawi such as initiation
ceremonies, chokolo, Kupitakufa, chidzeranu (practice involving exchanging wives), mbulo (temporary
husband replacement), fisi (consensual adultery for childless couples (OPC & NAC-2003), and illnesses
believed to result from breaking sexual taboos like mdulo (Matinga and McConville, 2003).
1.1 Statement of the problem
The presence of HIV/AIDS today has ignited a lot of research in the world and Malawi in particular to
identify areas which need to be targeted to abate the spread of AIDS virus. Several studies have been
done on areas such as peoples knowledge about HIV transmission; attitudes towards HIV infected
people, condom use, and HIV/AIDS. These studies have shown that many people are aware of
HIV/AIDS, modes of HIV transmission, and HIV preventive measures. Reports have also indicated that
people are fearful of HIV and AIDS because it has no cure (MDHS, 2000). Furthermore, a number of
studies have also been done which have identified the cultural practices that enhance the transmission of
HIV. However, there is less literature on studies with college students on HIV risky cultural practices, as
will be seen in the literature review section. This indicates that the area of HIV risky cultural practices
has received relatively less attention from researchers.
It seems most researchers have neglected to conduct studies on attitudes towards HIV risky cultural
practices and focused on other areas, hence the need for this study. This study explored attitudes of
Chancellor College undergraduates towards HIV risky cultural practices.
1.2 Aim of study
The main aim of the study was to find out the attitudes of Chancellor College students towards HIV
risky cultural practices.

1.3 Specific objectives

1. To find out if the students know any HIV risky cultural practices
2. To find out why the students consider the cultural practices risky
3. To determine if the students know any person who has ever undergone an HIV risky cultural
practice
4. To find out if fear of the negative consequences risky cultural practices influence attitudes
towards the cultural practices.
5. To investigate the students attitudes towards risky cultural practices
1.4 Hypothesis
A working hypothesis for this study was that attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices are
influenced by fear of their negative consequences. This hypothesis was based on the premise that at
college level, students must have acquired intense knowledge about the negative consequences of HIV
and how it is transmitted; as such they are less likely to tolerate any cultural practices which may
transmit HIV despite the significant roles they play in the society.
H1: Fear of the negative consequences of HIV risky cultural practices affects attitudes toward
risky cultural practices.
1.5 Significance of the study
The study may help determine the knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices among college students.
Whilst determining the knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices among college students, the study
will also serve as a launch pad for further studies in the same area involving larger samples which may
help design successful HIV/AIDS intervention programmes targeting risky cultural practices with hope
of abating the spread of HIV.
1.6 Theoretical framework
By definition, an attitude is a learned evaluative response, directed at specific objects and it is
relatively enduring and influences behaviour in a general motivating way (Allport, 1935 and Oskamp,
1977). Attitudes are just ideal concepts and are inferred from peoples behaviours or statements about a
concerned person, object or belief. For example, a positive attitude about a certain political candidate
will lead an individual to vote for the candidate, but if it is a negative attitude, then it is more likely that
one will not vote for the candidate.

Attitudes are very important because they help people gain rewards and avoid punishments and also
enable people to express deeper underlying values (Lippa, 1990:222). They are more like judgements
that people make about other people, objects or situations.
According to Katzs (1960), one of the ways through which attitudes are formed is standard learning
processes. There are a number of learning theories that explain how attitudes are learnt, but the results
of this study shall be grounded in Skinners (1953) Operant Conditioning theory. In operant
conditioning, there are positive and negative reinforcements. In positive reinforcement, behaviour is
rewarded, and that makes it more likely for the behaviour to be repeated (Skinner, 1953). For example,
you work hard (behaviour), you pass exams (consequence), and you are more likely to work hard in
future (maintaining behaviour). On the other hand, in negative reinforcement, behaviour is not
rewarded, and that makes it less likely for the behaviour to be repeated. Thus, you abscond from classes
(behaviour), you fail exams (consequence), and you are less likely to abscond from classes in future
(changing behaviour). However, it does not necessarily require one to experience behaviour to be
reinforced or not. Even by simply observing, hearing or learning from others, one may still be
reinforced or not depending on the consequences of the behaviour (ibid).
In the case of cultural practices in Malawis context, it is more likely that the cultural practices that may
enhance the spread of HIV (e.g., kuchotsa fumbi and Kupitakufa) will be rejected, or individuals will
have fears for their negative consequences and this will affect their attitudes towards them. Thus, the
negative consequences of HIV/AIDS will make the people have negative attitudes towards such cultural
practices. On the other hand, individuals will be more likely to accept, or have relatively positive
attitudes toward the cultural practices that do not risk HIV infection such as faithfulness in marriage for
fear of mdulo. This implies that individuals will either accept or reject a cultural practice depending on
its consequences.

FIGURE 1:

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS ATTITUDES

TOWARDS HIV RISKY CULTURAL PRACTICES

OBJECTIVE CUE

KNOWLEDGE OF
CONSEQUENCES
OF A CULTURAL
PRACTICE

PERCEPTION

NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

Cultural Practice

-HIV risky
-Safe
POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Rejection of
the cultural
practice

Acceptance of
the cultural
practice

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

One of the barriers to behaviour change in the country is culture. As such, to make successful
HIV/AIDS programmes, it is important to consider the cultural context in which sexuality and the
sexual acts are expressed. In so doing, areas that need to be targeted to reduce the spread of HIV can be
identified. In view of that, some researchers have conducted studies to identify cultural practices that
make people vulnerable to HIV infection. For instance, UNFPA World (1997) reports that in subSaharan Africa, premarital sexual encounter is more common, and this is attributed to sexual initiation
ceremonies. The study further reports that young men and women start engaging in sexual intercourse at
younger ages (8 to 16 years). Reasons for this are peer pressure, desire to please a partner, fear of
hurting relationship, and initiation ceremonies. However, the study noted that of all the factors
contributing to early sexual encounter, initiation of young boys and girls was found to be the major
contributing factor. During initiations, young boys and girls are advised to engage in the sexual
encounter as an experiment, and sometimes a fisi (a man whose role is to initiate girls into sexual
intercourse) is provided to sleep with all the female initiates (Matinga and McConville, 2003).
In Malawi, similar findings were reported by the Centre for Social Research (CSR, 1997). In the study,
CSR found that premarital sexual behaviour is so ubiquitous in the country, and it is motivated by
cultural practices (CSR, 1997). This study reports that most young men and women start sexual activity
at younger ages ranging from 8 to 16 years, and this is partly influenced by initiation ceremonies which
introduce a fisi in kuchotsa fumbi tradition. The study also noted that usually, at the end of the initiation
ceremonies, the initiates become puzzled by the conflicts between the social norms related to gender
where male supremacy (males should be sexually dominant while females should be submissive) is
inculcated to the initiates. This has an obvious implication that women will have no say in sexual
intercourse, but they will simply obey whatever a man demands. For example, if a man demands
unprotected sex, a woman cannot have power to protest or suggest otherwise. This puts girls at a higher
risk of contracting HIV (Munthali, Chimbiri and Zulu, 2004).
However, although the two studies above highlight initiation ceremonies as one of the critical areas in
the transmission of HIV, they did not attempt to find out the peoples attitudes towards the risky
practices. Of course, it may be more likely that the participants of these studies were aware of the
modes of HIV transmission, but that cannot be a basis to conclude that they forged ahead with the risky
6

cultural practices because they had positive attitudes towards them. It is therefore important to conduct
a study specifically focusing on peoples attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices.
Wangel (1995) also conducted a study on HIV related cultural practices in Malawi among the Chewa.
She found out that circa 1990s, HIV/AIDS interventions in the country emphasized on safe sex
messages, abstinence, and being faithful to one partner as a road to success in the fight against the
epidemic while neglecting the cultural context of sexuality in the country. The study reports that HIV
risky cultural practices such as kuchotsa fumbi, Kupitakufa, kupita kufa, and mbulo were not considered
when HIV/AIDS programmes were being developed. Thus, there was silence on the risky cultural
practices as compared to the present day though there is still not much emphasis.
The study suggests the significance of understanding the cultural context in formulating successful
HIV/AIDS policies in the society. However, the study only focused on the Chewa tribe thereby limiting
the application of its findings to the Chewa tribe only. Furthermore, although the study found that there
was silence on the risky cultural practices, it did not investigate whether the people were comfortable
with the silence or not. Determining peoples attitudes in this case is imperative because that can help
develop effective HIV/AIDS programmes. In addition, the study did not find out the peoples attitudes
towards the risky practices in the face of HIV.
Another study was conducted by Nyirenda (2004). It focused on attitudes of Chancellor College
students towards HIV infected people. The study yielded that most students have positive attitudes
towards people living with HIV/AIDS, and this was measured by the responses of the subjects which
indicated that they did not blame the infected, but instead, they held the context of the society as being
responsible for the HIV status of the infected. In the study, society context represented poverty and
cultural practices. These findings imply that the students have negative attitude towards cultural
practices. Similar to the study by Wangel (1995) cited above, this study reveals that the cultural context
is also contributing to the transmission of HIV in the country.
It is important to note that this study is one of the rare studies in the country that specifically targeted
college students. However, whilst the findings indicate that the students exhibited negative attitude
towards cultural practices, it does not specify the cultural practices that the students blamed. There are
various cultural practices in the Malawian society, for example, breaking of sexual taboos which may
result into mdulo, and initiations like kuchotsa fumbi. Mdulo is a fatal illness which attacks an unfaithful
7

spouse. Such beliefs do not pose any risk of contracting HIV, but instead they make people faithful to
their partners for fear of death should they engage in sexual intercourse with secret lovers according to
traditional beliefs (FR Boucher, 2002:117). On the other hand, kuchotsa fumbi promotes early sexual
encounter as it encourages the youth to experiment with sexual intercourse to avoid facing problems
when having sex in marriage, which subsequently makes the youth vulnerable to HIV infection. So, in
order to successfully determine peoples attitudes towards risky cultural practices, it is also important to
determine whether the subjects know the cultural practices that are risky. Thus, the study missed an
important point as it did not find out knowledge of the students on the risky cultural practices and also
why they consider the practices risky.
In another study, Bryceson, Fonseca and Kadzandira (2004) found that some cultural practices are
considered to enhance the quality of ones sexual performance to maximize pleasure among spouses
during sexual encounter. This is based on the traditional belief that sex is a joyful activity and that men
and women have a responsibility to know how to maximize pleasure for their partners and themselves
during sexual act. As such, traditional authorities organize ceremonies such as womens sexual
cleansing after initiation ceremonies by anamandwa as a way of teaching them how to perform well in
the sexual encounter. This is slightly similar to kuchotsa fumbi. The only difference is that this practice
is aimed at improving performance in sexual intercourse. These cultural practices involve sexual
intercourse which risk people to contract HIV.
Similar findings were yielded in a study done in Phalombe by Kornfield and Namate (1997). They
report that in initiation ceremonies, both male and female initiates are taught ways of pleasing their
partners during sexual encounter such as kunyekhulirana and kuseweletsana maliseche. They also
engage in sexual intercourse with fisi to experiment what they are taught. The study further reports that
before getting married, a woman is supposed to test the strength of her prospective husband. Here, the
woman sleeps with the prospective husband to try his semen. If the semen is watery, she dumps him
because watery semen is believed to be a sign of impotency.
The study also investigated peoples attitudes towards sexual pleasure, fidelity and risk of contracting
HIV. Results show that the people are aware of sexual intercourse as one of the modes of HIV
transmission. However, they ignore all that and persist with the risky practices.
The weakness of this study is that it only focused on people who had not gone further than primary
school education. This restricts the application of the findings to people who may be advanced in
8

education like college students. It is therefore important to also consider college students to find out if
education may influence their attitudes towards such cultural practices.
According to Zumba (2001), initiation ceremonies have become almost extinct in Dowa district and
have been replaced by church organized initiations termed chilangizo. Zumba further reports that the
church has incorporated some of the traditional values in the chilangizo and left out those values which
are considered to be immoral. The values that the church incorporated are backed by biblical texts.
However, the study also found that some parents still feel that the cultural practices which the church
has abandoned are very important to mould their children into fully fledged members of the community,
and they continue sending their children for traditional initiation ceremonies.
This study is subject to similar criticisms to the studies conducted by Kornfield and Namate (1997), and
Wangel (1995) because it focused on one particular district (Dowa) and one tribe which may prevent
generalization of the findings to other districts as well as tribes. Thus, the findings may not reflect what
is on the ground in the entire society. Furthermore, although church organised initiations have been
introduced in Dowa, the risky cultural practices have not been completely brought to extinction because
some parents continue to send their children for traditional initiation ceremonies which are mostly
characterised by HIV risky practices.
Studies have been done on HIV risky cultural practices in the country and results have indicated that
some cultural practices are contributing to the transmission of HIV among Malawians. However, whilst
several studies have been conducted on HIV risky cultural practices in the country, it seems that the area
of attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices has received relatively less attention from many
researchers. Although Nyirenda (2004) found that college students had negative attitudes towards the
context of the society which represented poverty and cultural practices in his study, he missed to
determine the students knowledge of the HIV risky cultural practices, and also why the students regard
the cultural practices as risky. Besides that, the main objective of his study was to find out students
attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS and not attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices.
This makes the study being proposed in this paper necessary as it will specifically focus on students
attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices as the main objective. The findings of this study will help
determine the students knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices and their attitudes which may enable
to develop effective HIV/AIDS interventions to abate HIV transmission through cultural practices.

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Study design
The study employed a quantitative approach. Since the study was a survey, no control group was used.
All respondents were asked to complete questionnaires with questions in English. To establish attitudes
towards HIV risky cultural practices, the questionnaire determined whether the respondents gave
responses that suggest blame on things such as recklessness, prostitution, and ignorance or the risky
cultural practices as being responsible for the transmission of HIV. Blame on the cultural practices
indicated negative attitudes, and respondents who blamed other things whilst defending the cultural
practices were considered to have positive attitudes towards the cultural practices.
3.2 Research setting
The study was done at Chancellor College in Zomba. This site was chosen because it has the largest
population of students as compared to the other constituent colleges of the University of Malawi and it
also offers a relatively wide variety of courses. As such, attributes of students from other colleges can
also be found with the students of Chancellor College to a larger extent. This may enabled results to be
applicable to the students of other colleges.
3.3 Sampling
The study used a sample of 50 subjects. To arrive at this sample size, calculations were made from the
population of Chancellor College undergraduates (2234 students) at confidence interval of 13.7 and
95% confidence level using the Sample Size Calculator (SSC). However, though the sample was very
small, it may still represent the entire population because the respondents were selected at random using
the simple random sampling method. The population (list of Chancellor College undergraduates
collected from the college registrar) was stratified into two groups basing on sex to ensure equal
participation from both sexes. Then names of males and females were written on equal pieces of paper
and were put into two drums; one for males and the other one for females. Each drum was rolled and 25
subjects were picked from each with replacement to ensure that each of the students from the entire
population had an equal chance of being picked.

10

3.4 Data collection

The study sought to find out whether knowledge about HIV and modes of HIV transmission, influence
attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices. A negative attitude was indicated by blame on the
cultural practices as being responsible for promoting risky behaviours which make people vulnerable to
HIV infection, and a positive attitude was determined by responses in defence of HIV risky cultural
practices while arguing that they play significant roles in the society, and as such, they should be
maintained.
3.5 Procedures and research instruments
Structure of the questionnaire: A questionnaire with questions in English designed specifically for self
administered survey was used to collect data. The questionnaire had different sections each targeting to
measure specific variables. Most of the questions were closed ended to get data which would be easily
analyzed using SPSS. The closed ended questions on the questionnaire were designed using the Likert
scale. The questionnaire was pre-tested on five fourth year sociology students to verify if it would give
the required information.
Delivery of the questionnaires was done by hand in the students hostels and classrooms, and each
questionnaire carried an instruction to the respondents to leave the questionnaire at the porters lodge
after completion. This method of collecting data was appropriate for this study because the subjects
were college students who are literate and also able to understand questions on their own.
3.6 Data analysis
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Re-coding was also used to
transfer data from open ended questions into SPSS. Then frequency tables and cross tabulations of
demographic factors and other variables such as knowledge of HIV, HIV risky cultural practices, were
generated to see if they influenced attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices, and also to test the
hypothesis.

11

3.7 Limitations of the study

The sample size of 50 is very small relative to the size of the population. This may restrict application of
the study results to the whole college as well as other colleges. It would also be ideal to collect in depth
data for this study using a qualitative approach, but this was not done because there were no research
assistants to help in face to face interviews since the study was not funded.
However, although this study will have limitations, it will certainly provide important information
which will give an insight for research involving big samples in future.
3.7 Ethical considerations
To ensure confidentiality, the respondents were advised not to indicate their names on the questionnaires
or provide any identity information. The questionnaires were also administered with an explanation of
the aim of the study, how they had been selected to participate in the study, and also freedom to choose
whether or not to participate was provided.

12

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Respondents demographic variables
The study yielded 25 responses from males and 25 responses from females representing 100% response
rate, and all of the respondents had ever heard about HIV. Seventy four percent of the respondents were
Christians while Muslims were 20% and 6% were not affiliated to any religion. Regarding age, the
sample comprised the age groups of 20-24 and 15-19 represented by 82% and 18% respectively. There
was no respondent with 25 years of age or above. 22% were first year students, 38% were in second
year, 26% were in third year, and 14% were in fourth year. On program of study, the sample had 20% of
the respondents doing Social Science, 8% doing Science, 30% doing Education humanities, 6% doing
Public Administration, 18% doing Education Science, 6% doing Law, and 12% doing Arts Humanities.
Finally, home districts and percentages of respondents coming from those districts were Chitipa (4%),
Karonga (6%), Rumphi (10%), Mzimba (8%), Nkhata-Bay (6%), Nsanje (8%), Dowa (2%), Lilongwe
(12%), Dedza (2%), Ntcheu( 6%), Mangochi (2%), Zomba (6%), Chiradzulo (4%), Blantyre (6%),
Thyolo (2%), Mulanje (2%), Chikwawa (2%), Neno (2%), Ntchisi (4%), and Mchinji (6%). It was also
determined that 100% of the respondents were raised in urban areas.
4.2 Respondents opinion on the major mode of HIV transmission
Frequency counts showed that all of the respondents were aware of sexual intercourse as the major
mode of HIV transmission. Table 1 shows the results.
Table 1: Respondents opinion on the major mode of HIV transmission
Opinion
Needle sharing
Blood transfusion
Sexual intercourse
Breast feeding
Total

Sex
Male
0
0
25
0
25

Female
0
0
25
0
25

Total
Frequency
0
0
50

Percentage
0
0
100

50

100

Although 100% of the respondents were aware of sexual intercourse as the major mode of HIV
transmission, they also acknowledged other modes such as breast feeding, sharing cutting tools, and
blood transfusion in defence of the argument that all HIV infected people contracted the virus because
of recklessness in question 12a on the questionnaire. This shows that the students were fully aware of
HIV and how it is transmitted.
13

4.3 Respondents knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices

The students were asked if they knew any HIV risky cultural practices. Results were as follows.
Table 2: Respondents knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices
Response
Yes
No
Total

sex
Male
23
2
25

Total
Female
24
1
25

Frequency
47
3
50

Percentage
94
6
100

According to the results in table 2, 94% of the students knew HIV risky cultural practices. However, the
frequency of males who were aware of HIV risky cultural practices was slightly lower than that of
females, but the reason for this was not known. Cross tabulation analysis was run to see if there was any
contingency between sex and knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices. Level of significance was set
at 5% and =0.05. Results were (Sig. =3.841, Chi-Square=0.3546). This indicates that there was no
association between knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices and sex of the respondents.
On sources of information from which the respondents learnt about the risky cultural practices, 46%
mentioned the radio, 12% mentioned newspapers, 2% mentioned health workers, 19% mentioned
friends and relatives, and 16% said that they heard about HIV risky cultural practices from schools and
quran teachers, while 6% of the respondents did not mention any source indicating that they were not
aware of any risky cultural practices. It can therefore be said that the majority (94%) of the students
were aware of HIV risky cultural practices.
This shows that there is still silence among families and friends to talk about HIV transmission. It is
mostly the radio from which many people learn about the cultural practices that are enhancing the
spread of HIV. This could be due to the fact that the major mode of HIV transmission is sexual
intercourse, and as such, people are not comfortable to talk about HIV which is associated with sexual
intercourse. This silence can put people particularly those without radios at a disadvantage as they may
not be aware of the situations that put people at risk of contracting HIV.
The students were asked to list down any three risky cultural practices they know, and following
cultural practices were found to be common among the students. Table 3 below shows the cultural
practices.
14

Table 3: HIV risky cultural practices the respondents know

Cultural Practice
Kuchotsa fumbi
Chokolo
Kupitakufa
Chidyerano
Fisi
Total
Missing
Total

Sex
Male
30
24
6
3
6
69
6
75

Total
Female
36
15
9
3
9
72
3
75

Frequency
66
39
15
6
15
141
9
150

Percentage
44
26
10
4
10
94
6
100

The summation of the percentage was 94% instead of 100% because 3 respondents did not mention any
HIV risky cultural practice, and these respondents were also the ones who said that they did not know
any HIV risky cultural practice as shown in table 2 above. The results show that kuchotsa fumbi is the
most famous cultural practice among the students with 44% of the students mentioning it. Kuchotsa
fumbi is widely practiced in the country (reference), and it is obvious that radio campaigns against HIV
target it, that is why it is famous among the students.
The study further sought to investigate why the students considered the cultural practices
aforementioned to be risky. Students responses indicated that the cultural practices involve sexual
intercourse which risk HIV transmission as summarized in the following cases.
Case 1: One female respondent said kupitakufa involves sexual intercourse between a widow and a
brother to the deceased husband or any other man. In that case, if one of these parties is HIV positive,
the latter may get infected.
Case 2: A male respondents said this: Sexual encounter which takes place during kuchotsa fumbi
occurs without knowing the cero statuses of the involved persons and if the fisi for example, is HIV
positive, the initiates who sleep with him may get infected.
The implication of the above results is that the students would consider any cultural practices which
involve sexual encounter to be risky. This concurs with the response the students gave that sexual
intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. However, it cannot be rule out that should there be

15

any cultural practices which involve blood contact the students would not consider them to be risky as
they were able to outline other modes of HIV transmission apart from sexual intercourse.
4.4 Students knowledge of people who ever got involved in HIV risky cultural practices
Results showed that most of the respondents did not know any person who ever got involved in an HIV
risky cultural practice. The table below shows the results.
Table 4: Respondents knowledge of people who ever got involved in HIV risky cultural practices
Response
Yes
No
Total
Missing
Total

sex
Male
6
17
23
2
25

Total
Female
7
17
24
1
25

Frequency
13
34
47
3
50

Percentage
26
68
94
6
100

Only 26% of the respondents knew someone who ever went through HIV risky cultural practices, while
the majority (68%) did not know anyone. This could be attributed to the fact that many of the students
(46%) learnt about HIV risky cultural practices from the radio. As such, they may only know that there
are cultural practices that promote HIV transmission because they involve sexual intercourse, without
knowing what exactly happens in the practices. Consequently, chances are very low for such individuals
to know somebody who ever got involved in a risky cultural practice. 6% who did not respond were
those who said that they were not aware of any HIV risky cultural practices in table 2.

4.5 Students attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices

To determine the attitudes of students towards HIV risky cultural practices, a number of questions were
asked to the students and to avoid biased responses the significant roles that the cultural practices play
in the society were highlighted.
The students were asked whether they could recommend anyone to be involved in a cultural practice
that risks HIV infection. Results are shown in the table below.

16

Table 5: Respondents opinions on whether they would recommend anyone to undergo an HIV
risky cultural practice
Opinion
Yes
No
Total

Sex
Male
2
23
25

Total
Female
1
24
25

Frequency
3
47
50

Percentage
6
94
100

As can be seen in table 5 above, 6% of the students said that they would recommend a person to
undergo an HIV risky cultural practice while the majority (94%) said that they would not. On
question10b, those who said that they would recommend said that they would do so because cultural
practices serve as an identity of the society, and besides that they mould the youth into fully fledged
members of the society. One of them went further to say that After all, HIV came after the cultural
practices were already there, so it (HIV) should not disturb our culture. This appears to agree with some
findings from the reviewed literature, for example, Kornfield and Namate (1997) study which found
that some people cling to the cultural practices as per custom though they pretty well know that they are
HIV risky.
On the other hand, those who refuted said that risky cultural practices are not safe as they make people
vulnerable to HIV infection. For that reason, it is better to avoid them although some of them play
significant roles in the society. They explained that although the cultural practices may have important
aspects, it is better to protect people from HIV than risking their lives which may eventually result into
the extinction of the society. Some of the respondents explained further that some cultural practices are
held on unfounded beliefs and they are completely useless. Here, the respondents might be referring to
cultural practices such as kupitakufa or kuchotsa milaza which involves sexual encounter between a
widow and any other man after burial of her husband. It is believed that such sexual encounter helps
keeping away bad spirits from troubling the widow (Bombeya, 2003).
Table 5 yielded 100% response instead of 94% because at this moment 6% of the students who were not
aware of HIV risky cultural practices were able to give opinions since they had now acquired
knowledge that some cultural practices are HIV risky.
Respondents were further asked to give opinions on whether HIV risky cultural practices should be
maintained in the society considering that though they are risky they play important roles in the society,
17

for example, kuchotsa fumbi prepares the youth not to have problems when having sexual intercourse in
marriage (see Boucher, 2002:117). The opinions that were found out are shown in the table below.
Table 6: Respondents opinions on whether to maintain risky cultural practices in the society
Response
Yes
No
Total

sex
Male
7
18
25

Total
Female
5
20
25

Frequency
12
38
50

Percentage
24
76
100

According to the table above, 24% of the respondents said that it is better to have well behaved society
members than unruly members, therefore though risky; the cultural practices should be maintained in
the society. 88% of those who said that the cultural practices should be maintained said that the society
can find preventive ways like using condoms to avoid HIV transmission and go on with the practices in
question 11b which sought to find out the reasons as to why the respondents would accept or not to
maintain HIV risky cultural practices that are believed to help mould society members to be well
behaved.
On the other hand, those who refused (76%) said that it is better to avoid any possible way which can
spread HIV to build an HIV free society. They suggested that if the cultural practices are really helpful
in shaping the behaviour of society members, then it is better to employ other practices which are not
risky. This implies that the students did not have any problem with the cultural practices as long as they
cannot transmit HIV. But if the cultural practices can put people at risk of contracting HIV, the students
thought it was better to substitute them with non-risky cultural practices. A similar suggestion was
brought forward in Nsanje district that condoms should be used in kupitakufa, but the villagers turned
down the suggestion saying that one of the aims of the practice is to strengthen the bones of the widow
(kulimbitsa mafupa), and when a condom is used, the bones cannot be strengthened (Bombeya, 2003).
However, although some students objected to the proposition, and others accepted it, there are
commonalities underlying their explanations as to why they hold such positions (that is, finding
preventive measures or substituting the risky practices for no n-risky ones). It can therefore be said that
all respondents were not comfortable with the spread of HIV, which suggests that they hold negative
attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices.

18

Still on determining the students attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices, it was proposed to the
respondents that to reduce the spread of HIV all risky cultural practices should be abandoned. Results
are summarized in the following table.
Table 7: Respondents views on the proposition that all HIV risky cultural practices should be
abandoned
Opinion
Agree/Strongly agree
Indifferent
Disagree/Strongly

sex

Total

Male
Female
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
18
72
17
68
35
70
2
8
2
8
4
8
5
20
6
24
11
22

disagree
Total

25

100

25

50

50

100

Results in table 7 above show that on aggregate the majority of the respondents (70%) were of the
opinion that HIV risky cultural practices should be abandoned while 22% disagreed and 8% were not
sure. These results are not very different from the results yielded in table 6 above. The percentage of
those who said that HIV risky cultural practices should not be maintained in table 6 was 76 while those
who agreed that the risky cultural practices should be abandoned were 70%. This slight difference may
have come due to those who were indifferent to the proposition. This shows that the respondents were
consistent in answering the questionnaire.
An opposite proposition to the above proposition was presented to the respondents to find out their
opinions on whether all cultural practices should be treated equally, no matter how risky some may be,
to maintain discipline and order in the society. Results are shown in table 8.
Table 8: Respondents opinions on whether both HIV risky and non risky cultural practices
should be treated equally to maintain discipline and order in the society
Response

Sex

Total

Agree/strongly

Male
1

Female
1

Frequency
2

Percentage
4

agree
Indifferent
Disagree/strongly

1
23

24

1
47

2
94

disagree
Total

25

25

50

100
19

As it can be seen in table 8 above, most of the respondents (94%) were of the view that the risky
cultural practices and non risky cultural practices should not be treated equally while only 4% agreed.
This implies that the majority of the respondents (94%) were not necessarily against the cultural
practices, but were afraid of HIV transmission through sexual intercourse involved in the cultural
practices. This also agrees to findings yielded in table 6 where 24% of the students said that HIV
preventive measures should be employed in the risky cultural practices and 76% said that all HIV risky
cultural practices should be avoided to build an HIV free society. For that reason, the students may hold
negative attitudes toward any cultural practices which involve sexual intercourse or any cultural
practices which may put people at risk of contracting HIV. The student who was indifferent and those
who said that all cultural practices should be treated equally (6%) were the same respondents who said
that they would recommend a person to go through a risky cultural practice because cultural practices
play important roles and are an identity of the society in question 10a. It might be for that reason as to
why they agreed that all cultural practices should be treated equally to maintain discipline and order in
the society.
The results of table 5 show that 94% of the students said they would not recommend anyone to be
involved in any risky cultural practice. In table 6, 76% respondents indicated that HIV risky cultural
practices should not be maintained. However, although 24% said that HIV risky cultural practices
should be maintained, they suggested employing HIV preventive measures in cultural practices to avoid
spreading HIV which implies that they were not comfortable with the spread of HIV. And results from
table 7 show that 70% of the students were of the view that all HIV risky cultural practices should be
abandoned to build an HIV free society. From all these results including results from table 8, it therefore
suffices to say that the majority of the students had negative attitude towards cultural practices that put
people at risk of contracting HIV. This also agrees to the conceptual framework which states that
students who are aware of cultural practices that put people at risk of contracting HIV are more likely to
hold negative attitudes towards them because of the fears of consequences of HIV as shown in table 2
that the majority of the students (94%) knew HIV risky cultural practices. However, the investigation
about the relationship between the conceptual framework and the findings will be developed later in the
report.
Finally, the respondents were asked whether HIV continues to spread because HIV messages do not
focus much on risky cultural practices. The results that were yielded are shown in table 9 below.
20

Table 9: Respondents opinions on the proposition that HIV continues to spread because messages
do not focus on risky cultural practices
Opinion
Agree/Strongly agree
Indifferent
Disagree/Strongly
disagree
Total

Sex

Total

Male
Female
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
5
20
4
16
9
18
3
12
5
20
8
16
17
68
16
64
33
66
25

100

25

100

50

100

According to results in table 9 above, 68% of the male students refuted the proposition while those who
objected to the proposition among female students were 64%. It is not clear as to why there was a
difference between males and females who disagreed or strongly disagreed. The overall percentage of
those who disagreed to the proposition was 66 and the overall percentage of those who agreed or
strongly agreed to the proposition was 18. This shows that campaign against risky cultural practices is
there, but it might be that the people are too conservative that they cannot afford to abandon the risky
cultural practices. This agrees to the findings of the study conducted in Phalombe by Kornfield and
Namate (1997) that the people know very well that their cultural practices are risky but they are just
reluctant to change.

21

4.6 INVESTIGATION OF WHETHER FEAR OF THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF HIV

RISKY CULTURAL PRACTICES INFLUENCED THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD THE RISKY
CULTURAL PRACTICES
To investigate if there was any association between the respondents attitudes towards HIV risky
cultural practices and their fear for the negative consequences of the risky cultural practices, the study
used the Chi-Square test of dependency. The investigation was conducted with data collected from two
questions; 11 and 19. Contingency tables were developed between each of these questions and the
question 10b whose responses suggested fear of the negative consequences of the cultural practices
among the students as shown in the 2 tables in appendix A.
Question 11 wanted to determine the students views on whether to maintain HIV risky cultural
practices which are believed to help shape the youth to become fully fledged members of the society;
number 19 proposed that all HIV risky cultural practices should be abandoned to reduce the spread of
HIV; and question 10b sought to investigate the reasons as to why the students would recommend
anyone to undergo an HIV risky cultural practice or not.
Chi-Square tests were conducted at 5% level of confidence with 1 degree of freedom allowed for
number 11, and 2 degrees of freedom for question 19. The Chi-Square values calculated were 10.106
22

and 36.702 respectively. These observed values are greater that the expected value (5.991) and this
suggests that there was dependency between the students responses in 10b and 11 and 19.
It can therefore be said that the respondents fear of the negative consequences of the risky cultural
practices influenced their attitudes towards the cultural practices. As such, the null hypothesis (H0)
which stated that the fear of the negative consequences of the risky cultural practices does not affect
attitudes towards the cultural practices was rejected. Since fear of the consequences of the risky cultural
practices seems to lead to negative perception of the cultural practices, it can therefore be safely
concluded that fear of the consequences of HIV risky cultural practices negatively affects attitudes
toward the cultural practices. This also shows that the conceptual framework summarizes well how
attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices are developed. Thus, attitudes towards HIV risky cultural
practices depend on the knowledge about the consequences of the cultural practices.
These findings suggest that the students do not have any problem with cultural practices, but their
concern is on the spread of HIV which may be enhanced by the cultural practices. They fear that if
people get involved in the risky cultural practices, they may contract HIV which is deadly. This fear
seems to explain why the students suggested substituting the risky cultural practices for non risky ones
in question 11b.
Furthermore, these results agree to the conceptual framework which states that the knowledge of the
consequences of HIV risky cultural practices negatively affects attitudes toward the risky cultural
practices.
4.7 INVESTIGATION OF WHETHER THE FINDINGS WERE DUE TO CHANCE
Results obtained from tables 5 and 6 were evaluated using the Binomial Distribution and table 7 results
were evaluated using the Chi-Square test shown in appendix B to see if they were simply due to chance
factors. Level of significance for results from all tables was set at 5% (=0.05). Probability calculations
from tables 5 and 6 yielded the same value (p=0.0000). For table 7, the Chi-Square value calculated was
31.714.
Since alpha was set at 0.05, the analyses show that 0 times in 10 000 would we get frequency of 47 on
yes response in table 5; 38 nos in table 6 by chance. Similarly, the Chi-Square value of 31.714
calculated from table 7 results is greater than the expected value (5.991) which implies that the
23

frequency of 35 on agree/strongly agree in table 7 are significant and not caused by chance factor. This
shows that these results were not due to chance factors, and therefore, the students fears for the
negative consequences of the risky cultural practices affect their attitudes toward the cultural practices.

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

The main aim of this study was to find out students attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices. The
study mainly focused on the students fears of the negative consequences of HIV risky cultural practices
that may affect attitudes towards the cultural practices, and to achieve that, the study based its
framework on Skinners (1953) Operant Conditioning theory. Besides the main objective, the study also
sought to find out the students knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices, why they consider the
cultural practices risky; to determine their knowledge of people who ever got involved in the risky
cultural practices; and to find out if fear of the negative consequences of HIV risky cultural practices
influenced attitudes towards the cultural practices.
The study considered it necessary to determine the students knowledge of HIV risky cultural practices
because there is an association between knowledge of an attitude object and an attitude that a person
may hold about the object. Thus, one cannot hold any attitude about an object s/he does not know.
Results showed that most of the students knew HIV risky cultural practices, and the most known risky
cultural practices among the students were Kuchotsa fumbi, Chokolo, Kupitakufa, Chidyerano and Fisi.
The findings indicated that the radio was the major source of information from which most of the
students first heard about the risky cultural practices. This could be because most of the students who
24

participated in the study grew up in urban areas where cultural practices are not common. These
findings suggest that there is a culture of silence in many families. Many parents or guardians do not
talk about HIV prevention with their children. As such, many children rely on sources outside the
family to learn about HIV related issues. This culture of silence in the families is very dangerous as it
may leave children ignorant thereby making them vulnerable to HIV infection. However, from the
results, it can be said that there is high level of awareness of HIV risky cultural practices among college
students.
The study also sought to find out if the students knew anybody who had ever been involved in any risky
cultural practices. This objective was included to confirm the students knowledge of HIV risky cultural
practices. Results indicated that most of the students did not know any such person. This was possibly
because many of the students first learnt about HIV risky cultural practices from the radio, and it is
relatively less likely for a person getting such information from the radio to know a person who ever got
involved in a risky cultural practice.
To achieve the main aim of the study; that is to find out the attitudes of college students towards HIV
risky cultural practices, the study wanted to investigate the students opinion on a number of
propositions. Some of the propositions were: whether the students would recommend anybody to
undergo an HIV risky cultural practice; whether to maintain or abandon HIV risky cultural practices;
and whether both HIV risky and non-risky cultural practices should be treated equally in the society.
Results indicated that the majority of the students said that they would not recommend anybody to
undergo an HIV risky cultural practice arguing that they make people vulnerable to HIV infection. On
the second question, all students refuted that both HIV risky and non-risky cultural practices should be
treated equally. Instead, they suggested that if the risky cultural practices are really helpful to the
society, then protective measures like condom use should be considered for safety. From these findings,
it can be said that most of the students hold negative attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices.
Another objective of the study was to investigate the reasons as to why the students considered the
cultural practices they mentioned in the first objective to be risky. This objective helped draw further
confirmation of whether the students understood what makes the cultural practices risky. Results
showed that most students looked at the cultural practices they mentioned as risky because they involve
sexual intercourse which is the major mode of HIV transmission in the country. The study took such
responses to represent fear of the negative consequences of the risky cultural practices. Hence, it was
25

noted that the majority of the students feared HIV infection which influenced their attitudes towards the
risky cultural practices. These results suggest that if it were not for HIV risky activities that characterize
the cultural practices, the students would not have any problems with the cultural practices. However, it
is their fear of HIV transmission which may be enhanced by the cultural practices which negatively
influenced their attitudes towards the risky cultural practices.
The study further found that fear of the negative consequences of the risky cultural practice does not
always influence attitudes. Some students said that HIV risky cultural practices should be maintained
because they have always been there even before HIV came. However, the very students were among
those who said that both risky and non-risky cultural practices should not be treated equally. This shows
that the students were afraid of HIV infection, but at the same time they would not afford to abandon the
cultural practices simply because of HIV. The implication here is that although some people may accept
to abandon all cultural practices that enhance HIV transmission, but still some will remain adamant. As
such, it is important to encourage the people to use safety measures like condoms during sexual
intercourse which takes place during kuchotsa fumbi, kupitakufa and other risky cultural practices to
reduce the spread of HIV.
It can therefore be concluded that the majority of Chancellor College undergraduates have negative
attitudes towards HIV risky cultural practices. For that reason, they are less likely to tolerate any
cultural practices that may make people vulnerable to HIV infection.
Suggestions
However, it should be noted that the participants of the study were raised in urban areas where the risky
cultural practices are not common, and that none of them had ever been involved in any risky cultural
practice. As such, these findings may not always apply to people who ever got involved in the cultural
practices or those who grew up with the cultural practices. Furthermore, due to the design of the study,
the respondents might write in the questionnaire what they would not do practically. In view of those
defects, it may be recommended to conduct a study with students who ever got involved in the risky
cultural practices or those who grew up in the areas where the risky cultural practices are observed
intensely using a participant observational method or any other method which may overcome the
weaknesses of the present study.

26

REFERENCES

Allport, G.W. (1935). Attitudes. In C.M. Murchison (Ed.), Handbook of Social Psychology. Worcester,
MA: Clark University Press.
Bombeya, Steve Mwambo wa kupitakufa Weekend Nation, August 2003 p3
Centre for Social Research (CRS). Factors influencing Teenage Motherhood in Malawi, CRS, Zomba,
1997.
Fonseca, J., Bryceson, D.F. and Kadzandira, J. Social Pathways from the HIV/AIDS Deadlock of
Disease, Denial and Desperation in Rural Malawi, CARE Malawi and RENEWA, 2004.
Kalipeni, E. (2000), Health and disease in southern Africa: a comparative and vulnerability
perspective. Social Science and Medicine 50(7/8):965-983
Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 163204.
27

Kornfield, R. and Namate, D, Cultural Practices Related to HIV/AIDS Risky Behaviour:Community

Survey in Phalombe, Lilongwe, Malawi: STAFH Project, 1997; and SPU and NACP, 1999.
Lippa, R.A. (1990). Introduction to Social Psychology. USA: Wadsworth.
Matinga, P. and McConville, F. A Review of Cultural Beliefs and Practices Influencing Sexual and
Reproductive Health, and Health-seeking behaviour, in Malawi. DFID Malawi, July 2003.
Munthali, A.C., Chimbiri, A., and Zulu, E. Adolescent Sexual and Reprodutive Health in Malawi: A
Synthesis of Research Evidence, Occasional Report No. 15, New York and Washington: The Alan
Guttmacher Institute, 2004.
NAC. (2005) HIV Sentinel Surveillance Survey. Lilongwe: NAC
National HIV/AIDS Policy: A Call to Renewed Action, OPC and NAC, 2003.
National Statistical Office [Malawi] and ORC Macro 2001. Malawi Demographic and Health Survey
2000. Zomba, Malawi and Calverton, Maryland, USA: National Statistical Office and ORC Macro.
Nyirenda, L.J. Attitudes of college students towards people living with HIV/AIDS: case of Chancellor
College undergraduates, unpublished dissertation, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, 2004.
Oskamp, S. (1977). Attitudes and Opinions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and Human Behaviour. New York: Macmillan.
Strategic Planning Unit (SPU) and National AIDS Control Program, Malawis National Response to
HIV/AIDS for 2000-2004: Combatting HIV/AIDS with Renewed Hope and Vigour in the New
Millennium, Lilongwe, Malawi: SPU and NACP, 1999.

UNAIDS/WHO AIDS epidemic update, December 2005

UNAIDS/WHO 2004 Report on the global AIDS epidemic

http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm
28

UNFPA World. The State of Wolrd Population, United Nations Population Fund, 1997.
Wangel, A. AIDS in Malawi a case study: A conspiracy of silence, dissertation, London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, 1995.
Zumba, P.W.B.S. Socio-cultural factors influencing early sexual behaviour among chewa youth: the
case of Dowa district, unpublished dissertation, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, 2001.

APPENDIX A: TESTS OF SIGNIFICANCE

CHI-SQUARE TESTS OF DEPENDENCY
Chi-Square contingency tables
Table 10: Whether or not the respondents would agree to abandon all risky cultural practices to reduce
the spread of HIV. * Reason as to why the respondents would recommend or not recommend anyone to
undergo any of the risky cultural practices.
Response
Agree/strongly
Indifferent
Disagree/strongly Row marginal
Yes (MPV)
No (SP)
Column marginal

agree
35 (fe=32.9)
0(fe=2.1)
35

1 (fe=3.76)
3 (fe=0.24)
4

disagree
11 (fe=10.34)
0 (fe=0.66)
11

47
3
50

Table 11: Whether or not the respondents would accept to maintain HIV risky cultural practices because
of their significant roles in the society. * Reason as to why the respondents would recommend or not
recommend anyone to undergo any of the risky cultural practices.
Response
Yes
No
Row marginal
Yes (MPV)
9 (fe=11.28)
38 (fe=35.72)
47
No (SPB)
3(fe=0.72)
0 (fe=2.28)
3
Column marginal
35
38
50
MPV means: Make people vulnerable to HIV infection
SPB means: Shape peoples behaviours
29

X2 = (fo-fe) 2 fe
Where Fe= Expected frequency
Fo= Observed frequency
Degrees of freedom (df) = (r-1) (c-1)
Where r=Number of rows
c= Number of columns
These Chi-Square tests were conducted at 5% level of confidence.

APPENDIX B: BINOMIAL DISTRIBUTION TABLES

Table 12: Respondents opinions on whether they would recommend anyone to undergo an HIV risky
cultural practice
Table entry
N
50
P(47 no) = 0.0000

Number of P events
47

P (0.5)
0.0000

Table 13: Respondents opinions on whether to maintain risky cultural practices in the society
Table entry
n
50
P(38 no) = 0.0000
P(X=x)= [nCx] Px(1-P)n-x
Where n=50; x=38; p=0.5

Number of P events
38

P (0.5)
0.0000

Chi-Square test:
Table 14: Respondents views on the proposition that all HIV risky cultural practices should be
abandoned
Agree/strongly agree
Indifferent
Disagree/strongly disagree
35 (fe=16.67)
4 (fe=16.67)
11 (fe=16.67)
2
2
X = (fo-fe) fe; df= 2
Degrees of freedom (df) =k-1, where k=number of groups or categories.
30

APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE

Questionnaire number:
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR SOC 410
STUDENTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS HIV RISKY CULTURAL PRACTICES
Dear participant,
This questionnaire intends to collect data for a fourth year Sociology student as a requirement for
bachelors degree. The study intends to find out attitudes of college students towards HIV risky
cultural practices. There is no correct or wrong answer for the questions on this paper. You are
therefore encouraged to express your true feelings. Do not indicate your name for confidentiality.
You are free to decide whether or not to participate in this study. I would be grateful if you can
participate in this study. Please, tick only one appropriate box per question unless specified
otherwise.
A. This section seeks to obtain your Personal information (please, tick in the appropriate box)
a) Sex:

Male

Female

b) Religion: Christianity
c) Age:

15-19

Islam
20-24

Other

Specify

25 and above

d) Home district:
31

e) Program of study:

f) Year of study:

BSOC

BSC

BEDHUM

BEDS

LAW

BAH

PA

g) Where were you raised? Rural area

Urban area

B. This section seeks Information on your knowledge about HIV and HIV risky cultural practices
1.

Have you ever heard about HIV?

(a) Yes

(b) No

1b) If yes, from which source did you first hear about it?
a) Radio,

b) Newspaper,

d) Mosques/Churches,

c) Health Workers,
e) Friends/Relatives

g) Booklets/Pamphlets/Posters,
i) Other

f) Schools/Quran Teachers,

h) Community Meetings,

(specify)

2. What do you think is the major mode of HIV transmission?

a) Needle sharing,

b) Sexual Intercourse,

d) Breast Feeding,

e) Other

c) Blood Transfusion,

(specify)

3. What do you think are the major barriers to reduction of the spread of HIV? (tick 3)
(a)Prostitution

(b) Recklessness

(c) Cultural practices

(d) Ignorance

(e) Rape
4. How can a person protect himself or herself from contracting HIV? (tick any 3).
a) Have one sexual Partner,

b) Abstain Sex,

c) Avoid risky cultural practices,

d) Avoid Prostitution, e) Use condoms during sex,

5. a) Do you know any cultural practice that may put one at a risk of contracting HIV?
32

(a) Yes

(b) No

5b) If yes, list down any three cultural practices you know.
1
2
3
6. Why do you consider those cultural practices as risky?

7. From which source of information did you first learn about the cultural practices?
a) Radio,

b) Newspaper,

e) Friends/Relatives
g) Booklets/Pamphlets/Posters,
i) Other

c) Health Workers,

d) Mosques/Churches,

f) Schools/Quran Teachers,
h) Community Meetings,

(specify)

8. a) Do you know anybody who has ever been involved in any risky cultural practice?
(a) Yes

(b) No

8b) If yes, mention the practice

9. a) Have you ever been involved in any risky cultural practice (s)?
(a) Yes

(b) No

9b) If yes, mention any one practice

C. This section seeks to obtain information on how you look at HIV/AIDS and HIV risky
cultural practices
10. a) Would you recommend anyone to undergo any of the cultural practices you consider to be
risky?
(a) Yes
(b) No
10b) Explain:

33

11. a) Some HIV risky cultural practices help shaping the youth to become fully fledged members of
the society. Do you think it is necessary to maintain such cultural practices?
(a) Yes

(b) No

11b) Explain:

12. a) HIV infected people contracted the virus because of recklessness.

(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

12b) Explain for your position

13. Some cultural practices promote early sexual encounter thereby making the youth vulnerable to
HIV infection.
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

14. Some cultural practices encourage sexual behaviour, and subsequently promote HIV
transmission.
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

15. HIV is a punishment to unfaithful spouses. Do you agree or not?
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

34

16. HIV continues to spread because HIV/AIDS messages do not focus much on risky cultural
practices.
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

D.

This section seeks to obtain your views on what to do to HIV risky cultural

practices in the society

17. All cultural practices should be treated equally whether they may be HIV risky or not to
maintain discipline and order in the society.
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

18. How do you think the spread of HIV can be reduced? Mention any three ways
1)
2)
3)
19. To reduce the spread of HIV, all risky cultural practices should be abandoned.
(a) Strongly agree

(b) Agree

(c) Indifferent

(d) Disagree

(e) Strongly disagree

A box in which you should drop the questionnaire after completion has been provided at the
porters lodge. Thanks for participating in the study.

35