SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPERIENCES AND OPINIONS OF SCHOOL-BASED HIV-AIDS EDUCATION

This article reports the findings from the second part of a two-stage study that used both qualitative and quantitative methods to investiga te the communication context of school-based HIV-AIDS education in sta te secondary schools in metropolitan and rural areas of New South Wale s. The quantitative data are here described, focusing on a sample of 1 005 Year 12 students' responses to a self-administered questionnaire. The data suggest that the students strongly supported the general idea of school-based HIV-AIDS education, but found current offerings lacki ng in several respects. Students identified a strong need for informat ion about how HIV and AIDS affect the body, for more information about sexually transmissible diseases other than HIV-AIDS, for people with HIV themselves and experts in the field to provide education sessions, and for more small-group discussions. Rural students and those studen ts from schools located in the outer western suburbs of Sydney in part icular reported that they had insufficient access to the modes of info rmation that they most preferred. There were some important difference s between the responses of female and male students and between the re sponses of students from different ethnic groups, suggesting that thes e factors also need acknowledgment when school-based programs are desi gned for young people.