AN ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY INTERVENTION STRATEGIES DESIGNED TO IMPROVE AIDS-RELATED KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS, AND HEALTH PRACTICES AMONG HIGH-RISK REPRODUCTIVE-AGE WOMEN.

Description

A review of the literature to date reveals a need for experimental support of AIDS education for reproductive-age women. In order to evaluate educational interventions in this population, three teaching methods (programmed instruction, informational brochure, and programmed instruction plus informational brochure) were compared with another intervention control group. Three hundred twenty clinic patients were alternately assigned to each treatment method. Changes in knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, and health practices were assessed by means of a 71-item questionnaire, the Ohio AIDS Prevention Survey. The questionnaire was administered to patients upon entry into the clinic and two weeks following instruction on the topic of AIDS. An analysis of within-group differences with t-tests of paired data showed statistically significant but minimal (1 to 2 point) increases in posttest knowledge scores in the intervention groups. There were also statistically significant but minimal (.3 to.9 point) decreases in 2-week risk-behavior scores for all groups. Between-group differences were evaluated at pre- and postintervention using one-way analyses of variance. There were no differences in attitudes and beliefs scores within or between groups. There were statistically significant between-group differences in 2-week behavior scores postintervention. However, post hoc Tukey comparisons indicated that no two groups were significantly different at the p $<$.05 level. These results suggest that, of the three interventions employed, none had specific teaching advantages with respect to the typical clinic patient. Hence, the statistically significant findings were not clinically significant.

Subjects