AIDS education for gay men: towards a more cognitive approach

Art approach to AIDS education is presented that focuses on the thinking pr ocesses which accompany gay men's decisions to engage in high-risk sex. It is proposed that: (I) at the time they are deciding to have high-risk sex, gay men generally engage in art 'internal dialogue' that justifies this dec ision to themselves; (2) the AIDS-related thinking underpinning such self-j ustifications can differ appreciably from the AIDS-related thinking that ta kes place outside the sexual context; and (3) AIDS education cart profitabl y exploit this difference between 'heat of the moment' and 'cold light of d ay' thinking. Evidence supporting these proposals is drawn from studies in which gay men who had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse recalled the occasion concerned in detail, including any self-justifications they had us ed; and from controlled intervention studies, in which gay men who had enga ged in unprotected anal intercourse were confronted with the thinking they had employed in the heat of the moment.