NCJ Number
129706
Journal
International Journal of Health Services Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: (1990) Pages: 589-599
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The impact of AIDS education programs in the first decade of the AIDS/HIV epidemic is evaluated, and future directions are examined.
Abstract
AIDS education programs have been most successful in providing information on AIDS to a wide population, but less successful in producing behavior modification in high risk groups. Major obstacles to more effective AIDS education include too great an emphasis on information, a reliance on 1-way rather than interactive communication, a narrow categorical approach to AIDS, a lack of a comprehensive approach to prevention and treatment, and an unwillingness to admit distrust of government, scientists, and health officials, and a focus on individual behavior rather than the social and political factors that shape behavior. To address these obstacles, AIDS prevention programs need to identify cultural forces of target populations, integrate into other programs that serve community needs, enlist grassroots organizations in prevention efforts, and support individuals and organizations that take a more political approach to AIDS and AIDS prevention. Most importantly, the effort should connect with a vision of a better world in which conditions that have contributed to the epidemic are addressed and improved. 26 references (Author abstract modified)