Submitted Abstract
Title: “Aids und Religion – Der psychologische Beitrag von Buddhismus und Christentum zu Präventionsstrategien gegen die psychosozialen Folgen von HIV/Aids. Ein Vergleich zwischen Südostasien und Europa am Beispiel Thailands und Luxemburgs” (“AIDS and Religion – the psychological contribution of Buddhism and Christianity to prevention strategies against the psychosocial consequences of HIV/AIDS. A comparison between Southeast Asia and Europe by the example of Thailand and Luxembourg”).This dissertation shows the strengths and the weaknesses of the cultural specific potential in the fight against the psychosocial effects of HIV and AIDS on the background and the understanding of the psychological and psychosocial conditions of the Southeast Asian (example Thailand) and the European (example Luxembourg) society. Appropriate inter- and intra-cultural prevention concepts will be analyzed and discussed. The understanding of HIV/AIDS prevention in this research is based on the (Buddhist) assumption that prevention has to deal in the first place with the psychosocial consequences of HIV and AIDS. New risk groups and new risk behavior to which the old prevention strategies from the 80s are not appropriate any more, forms in combination with inactivity and the unwillingness of modernization of those strategies an explosive mixture.This must be met with strategies which accommodate the fear of the people and the common stigmatization of infected people with adequate information and psychological training programs. Through the principle of mutual learning and examination of such different cultural conditions this dissertation wants to enable the use of strengths and weaknesses of the specific cultural peculiarities as a prerequisite for successful holistic prevention.The empirical part of the thesis aims to prove this by means of expert interviews to name the substantial factors which are necessary for an effective and culturally adapted prevention strategy. The Interviews were chosen with the help of the “Theoretical Sampling” (by Strauss&Corbin 1995), were carried out as “half-structured problem-centered expert interviews” (by Witzel 1985) and were analyzed with the help of the “Grounded Theory” (by Glaser&Strauss 1967). Furthermore, case studies as “good practice” projects were used to put those factors in concrete terms, to prove them and show the innovative application in the practical field.