QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL, EVALUATION OF 3 AIDS-PREVENTION ACTIVITIES FOR MAINTAINING KNOWLEDGE, IMPROVING ATTITUDES, AND CHANGING RISK BEHAVIORS OF HIGH-SCHOOL SENIORS

Twelfth graders in a small southern city participated in one of three interventions: a question and answer (QA) session, a presentation by a person with AIDS (PWA), or a role-play activity (RP). A pre-intervent ion questionnaire assessed AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes. Immed iate post-intervention questionnaires assessed knowledge and the inter vention itself, acid, five weeks later, a questionnaire reassessed kno wledge and attitudes in addition to changes in risk behaviors. Knowled ge gains were similar in the three groups; forgetting was greatest amo ng PWA students. The attitudes group toward persons with AIDS tended t o be the most positive, but differences among the groups were not stat istically significant. The proportion of RP students (65.9%) who repor ted changing their sexual activities after the intervention was signif icantly greater than that proportion of the other groups. These findin gs suggest that role-play activities can be more effective in achievin g HIV/AIDS-related attitudinal and behavioral change than question-and -answer discussions or presentations by PWAs.