CONCEPTUAL AND STRATEGIC FOUNDATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE MEDIA CAMPAIGNS FOR PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF HIV-INFECTION

To alter the course of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, public health campaigns are needed which directly and explicitly focus on reducing risk behaviors that transmit HIV infection. Such campaigns wilt require the effective use of media, but there are practical and theoretical barriers that limit the impact of media-facilitated risk behavior change. This paper reviews some of the problems exhibited by the first part of the "America Responds to AIDS" campaign and describes an integrative framework that addresses the problems of that campaign and which can be used for mounting more effective media-based efforts. The framework is then used to formulate an exemplary AIDS prevention campaign for adolescents. The urgency of the AIDS epidemic presents an unusual opportunity for the behavioral sciences to demonstrate their ability and advance their disciplines through the design, implementation, and evaluation of prevention campaigns that have firm conceptual and strategic bases. © 1990.