NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR INTERVENTION IN THE WORKPLACE

Tong, Frederick K.S. *Lau J.T.F., **Li P.C.K., *Chan T.P.C., *Jones E, *Ng J, *Opie-Smith K, *White B.

**Hong Kong AIDS Foundation; **Centre of Clinical Trials & Epidemiological Research, CUHK, Hong Kong.

Issue: The Hong Kong Community Charter on AIDS was launched in December 1994 to encourage companies and organizations to set up AIDS policies and introduce AIDS education in the workplace. In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO) was enacted, which makes unlawful the discrimination of people with disabilities including people with HIV/AIDS, in employment and other areas. However, the business sector seems to retain uninvolved : In a year since its launch 39 companies/organizations have signed the Community Charter them only 7 are companies from the business sector, with 3 having fulfilled the required commitments. Intervention is clearly needed but, in view of the small felt need in the sector, a survey is being conducted to identify the specific needs areas before intervention.

Project: In views of human resource managers of companies having 500 employees or more will be surveyed on the following areas in respect of their companies: (a) existing policies on the employment of people with HIV/AIDS ing any screening and insurance policies; (b) likely reaction on the discovery of an HIV positive employee; (c) knowledge of the DDO; (d) business sector’s perceived responsibility in responding to the epidemic; (e) any felt for a company AIDS policy and education programmes for employees; and (f) the suitable mode of education programmes. The data collected will be analysed against the type of business of the company and whether the company is a local or multinational corporation.

Results and lessons learned: The preliminary findings will be reported at the conference. Particular attention will be paid to the manager’s knowledge of the impact of the anti-discrimination legislation and the reasons why they feel or do not feel the need for a policy and/or education programmes on AIDS in the workplace. Such information will be crucial in determining the entry points for introducing intervention at the workplace.