College student's perceptions of sources of information about AIDS.

Publisher: Routledge Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8214119 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0744-8481 (Print) Linking ISSN: 07448481 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Am Coll Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2010- : New York : Routledge
Original Publication: [Washington, D.C. : Published by the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, in cooperation with the American College Health Association, c1982-

Communication*; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*transmission ; Health Education/*methods; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/prevention & control ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Information Services ; Male ; Preventive Health Services/methods ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Universities

Public communication campaigns and social marketing literature identify principles for developing effective AIDS education and prevention efforts. Planners need to know the audience, identify salient audience segments, and understand the characteristics of information sources that the particular audience finds believable and is likely to use. In this study, the authors investigated college students' perceptions of (1) the credibility and likelihood of using a variety of interpersonal, media, and institutional sources of information about AIDS; (2) the sources that have provided them with the most information about AIDS; and (3) the relationships among those perceptions. They also investigated potential gender differences in perceptions of sources of AIDS information. Respondents to a larger probability sample survey rated 35 sources of information about AIDS. Although mass media sources clearly provided the greatest amount of information, they were conspicuously less prominent in their acceptability to respondents. Leaflets were the only kinds of media sources that the respondents rated high on both believability and likelihood of use. In contrast, three interpersonal sources and four institutional sources appeared as best choices on the combined criteria. Results are discussed in terms of implications for planning and implementing AIDS education and prevention programs for the college-student audience.

Date Created: 19910901 Date Completed: 19911217 Latest Revision: 20151119

20240829

10.1080/07448481.1991.9936257

1939935