Mj. Hoppe et al., CHILDRENS KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEFS ABOUT AIDS - QUALITATIVE DATA FROM FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS, Health education quarterly, 21(1), 1994, pp. 117-126
Focus groups were used as a qualitative technique to elicit knowledge
and attitudes of children in Grades 3 to 6 about acquired immune defic
iency syndrome (AIDS). Twenty-seven small groups of children responded
to open-ended questions about general AIDS knowledge; transmission, c
ausation, consequences, and prevention of AIDS; emotional response to
AIDS; and susceptibility. Results indicate that children have a high l
evel of awareness about AIDS and correct knowledge about the modes of
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission. They understand that
AIDS is a serious illness that cannot be cured and know the main ways
of preventing HIV infection. Participants had more difficulty explaini
ng causation and greatly overestimated the number of people their age
and in high school that might be infected. They also had difficulty ap
plying accurate knowledge to the hypothetical situation of encounterin
g a child with AIDS in school. Misconceptions about AIDS exist at all
grade levels, but appear more prevalent in lower grades, whereas incre
ased complexity seems to characterize responses of older children. Rec
ommendations for health educators are made.