Culture and innovative patient education: Role playing in real and virtual life

In response to the alarming statistics that AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women age 25 -34 and the leading cause of death among African American men age 35 -44, the BASUAH (Brother’s And Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS) initiative was formed. The program specifically targets college age students between ages18 – 40, to first raise awareness about the epidemic, and the importance of safe sex and knowing your HIV status, and to train them to become peer-educators.

Because of the make-up of our target audience, and the fact that internet usage is high amongst college students, we chose to utilize the internet technologies for training and social marketing of the BASUAH initiative. A 2007 survey by Pew International on the demographics of internet users, shows that 70% are women, 62% are black, non-Hispanic. In addition, 80% of people who use the internet are looking for medical or health related information.

The first component of the BASUAH initiative is identifying student volunteers to become BASUAH Ambassadors. These ambassadors are required to take the online training which consists of eight modules dealing with topics ranging from HIV/AIDS basics to cultural sensitivity issues when discussing the topic with the African American community. The course was built using a free Learning Management System (LMS) which helps learners keep track of their training, and issues them a certificate as well as notifies us when they have completed the training. Since we are asking students to volunteer their time to become trained ambassadors, it was necessary to ensure flexibility in accessing and taking the training. The second component is having students role play what they have learned. Since we are asking them to be peer-educators, we decided to create an online experience in “Second life” where participants assume an identity by building an “avatar” and use this identity to practice talking about HIV/AIDS awareness to their peers on Second Life through hosting of forums and other forms of presentation just as they would do in real life. We are also developing “skins” is Second Life where (for example), they can assimilate the skin of a person the AIDS virus or other disease, and discuss their experience.

We are excited to share this model for the following reasons:

• We are reaching more diverse people through this method. To date we have trained over 500 BASUAH ambassadors.
• Our message is being heard in local communities as well as universally via the internet.
• By having a presence in Second Life, people are talking more openly and honestly about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and our peer-educators (BASUAH Ambassadors) are able to practice their presentation skills without intimidation.
• Our model is free and available to interested groups or organization, and can be easily customized to meet a any group’s needs.
• You too can have a similar program for very little or no cost.