TTLV: HIV/AIDS prevention communication in ethnic minority communities in Tuyen Quang province: An anthropological approach

MASTER'S THESIS INFORMATION

1. Student's full name:Luong Anh Ngoc

2. Gender: Male

3. Date of birth: September 1, 1989

4. Place of birth: Tuyen Quang

5. Decision on recognition of students No. 2797/2012/QD-XHNV-SDH dated December 28, 2012 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

6. Changes in training process: None

7. Thesis topic name:“HIV/AIDS prevention communication in ethnic minority communities in Tuyen Quang province: An anthropological approach”

8. Major: Ethnology Code: 60.22.70

9. Scientific instructor:Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu HuongFaculty of AnthropologyUniversity of Social Sciences and HumanitiesVietnam National University, Hanoi

10. Summary of thesis results:

The thesis provides an overview of HIV/AIDS prevention communication in ethnic minority communities in Tuyen Quang province. The research results indicate that people's knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention is still limited. The analysis of communication from the "source" perspective shows that the practice of communication staff "labeling" the discourse of social evils is unreasonable, ignoring post-communication evaluation activities as well as not receiving feedback from the people. The situation of concurrent positions in staff allocation, the overlap of responsibilities or loose inter-sectoral coordination are also practices of concern from the "source" perspective. The research results of the thesis also indicate that language and the diversity of local names for HIV/AIDS and culturally insensitive communication materials are barriers for people in accessing communication information. At the same time, poor infrastructure and a lack of qualified human resources at the grassroots level pose challenges not only to communication service providers but also to the people.

11. Practical application:

- Contribute to providing some practical aspects serving the policy planning and intervention programs of relevant departments.

- A useful reference source for scholars, students, community development professionals and intervention communication practitioners.

12. Further research directions:

Further analysis of local people’s perceptions and attitudes towards community media programmes in comparison with current discourses on ethnic minorities in Vietnam. This analysis will contribute to further illustrating recent academic debates on the agency of minority communities, as well as inter-ethnic interactions in Vietnam.

13. Published works related to the thesis:

- Luong Anh Ngoc & Phan Hong Giang (2012), “Domestic violence against people with HIV from a sociological and cultural perspective”,Proceedings of the International Conference “The Reality and Future of the Family in an Integrated World”, Culture - Information Publishing House, Hanoi, pp. 239-248.

- Luong Anh Ngoc (2015), “Subjects and objects in HIV/AIDS prevention communication in ethnic minority communities in Tuyen Quang province from the perspective of labeling theory and Claude Shannon's communication model”,Journal of Ethnology, No. 06.2015.

INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS

1. Full name: Ngoc Luong Anh2. Sex: Male

3. Date of birth: September 01, 19894. Place of birth: Tuyenquang province

5. Admission decision number: 2797/2012/QD-XHNV-SDH, Dated: December 28, 2012

6. Changes in academic process: None

7. Official thesis title: “Communication on preventing HIV/AIDS in ethnic areas in Tuyenquang province (Vietnam): An anthropological approach”.

8. Major: Ethnology 9. Code: 60.22.70

10. Supervisors:Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, PhDLecturerFaculty of AnthropologyUniversity of Social Sciences and HumanitiesVietnam National University of Hanoi

11. Summary of the findings of the thesis:

The thesis provides an overview of communication on preventing HIV/AIDS in ethnic areas in Tuyenquang province. The research findings indicate that local people's knowledge about HIV/AIDS is still limited. The analysis of communication from the perspective of “source” points out that the communication staff use “labeling” and discourse social evils in unsuitable ways, ignore assessment after doing the communication nor receive feedback from the local people. The status of concurrently, the shirking of responsibility and the loose inter-agency coordination of communication staff are also current remarkable issues. The findings also indicate that the language, the diversity of the local names of HIV/AIDS and the limited-cultural sensitivity communication materials are the barriers to local people accessing information in the communication. Simultaneously, the weak infrastructure system and the lack of professional human resources at the local level are the challenges for not only communication providers but also receivers (local people).

12. Practical applicability, if any:

The findings from this thesis help administrators to build suitable policies for developing communication on preventing HIV/AIDS in ethnic areas. On the other hand, the findings are scientific references for scholar, student, communication staff.

13. Further research directions, if any:

More in-depth analysis of the conceptions and attitudes of local people about the communication programs in comparison with the current discourses on ethnic areas in Vietnam. This analysis directions will contribute to further illustrate the recent scholarly debate about the “agency” of ethnic areas as well as inter-ethnic interactions in Vietnam.

14. Thesis-related publications:

- Luong Anh Ngoc & Phan Hong Giang (2012), “Domestic violence for persons with HIV from social and cultural approach angel”,The summary of International conference “Reality and future of family in the integrated world”, Hanoi, pp. 239-248.

- Luong Anh Ngoc (2015), “The sender and the receiver in communication on preventing HIV/AIDS in ethnic areas in Tuyenquang province (Vietnam) from labeling theory and communication model of Claude Shannon approaches”,Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 6.2015.