BACK TO BASICS - YOUNG PEOPLES PERCEPTIONS OF HIV AIDS EDUCATION/

Peter Aggleton(1) stated that 'the time is ripe to move beyond concept ually limiting paradigms of thought to engage constructively with the expressed needs of young people themselves'. The need is to empower yo ung people as knowledgable participants in the research process itself . The research project reports on how to draw young people into the re search process in a meaningful way by examining their perceptions of s chool, media and interpersonal HIV/AIDS education and information acco rding to gender, class, ethnic and regional difference. On the one han d this engages with current 'active audience' approaches to communicat ion theory - important here because young people are 'audiences' to HI V messages in both the school and media. On the other hand it consider s social, demographic and structural variables that affect these 'acti ve audiences'. The paper outlines the methods used, presents key findi ngs with particular reference to gender differences, and a brief discu ssion on the implications of these findings.