NCJ Number
116076
Journal
Law, Medicine, and Health Care Volume: 16 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (Winter 1988) Pages: 267-273
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper argues that public health programs to prevent AIDS should be based on sophisticated understanding of communication and education processes.
Abstract
The rationalist and moralist philosophies toward promoting safer behavior are distinguished, along with models for understanding the variables that cause people to change or modify their behavior to avoid perceived injury or infection. These models are inadequate for understanding the biological, psychological, and cultural factors that motivate sexual behavior and illicit intravenous drug use, making it necessary for an effective public health program to be sensitive to how people process complex information and change their behavior. Effective education programs must help populations assess their risk for HIV infection and identify sources of infection. Health education processes that use fear and are directed at specific ethnic and cultural groups to try to change behavior must be based on an understanding of how these groups respond to and process health risks. Because there is no compulsory way to stop the spread of HIV infection, voluntary methods must be used. The United States must use the findings of the behavioral sciences to mount a coordinated aggressive health education campaign to respond to the health threat posed by HIV infection. 33 references.