Social and economic factors in an integrated behavioral and societal approach to communications in HIV/AIDS

Health communication scholars have tried to understand how individuals proc ess information and have identified the factors that contribute to appropri ate behavior change. Some of these theorists have, implicitly or explicitly , assumed that if individuals were provided with the "right" information th ey would adopt the recommended behavior. Some others have endorsed the need to provide behavioural skills along with information so that individuals a re able to carry out the desired behavior. Both approaches, however, are co ncerned with individual behavior change. Social-demographic variables like class, gender, and race have seldom figured in sociopsychological analysis in the AIDS context. Limited attention has been paid to the manner in which political, economic, and social variables have constrained or enabled indi vidual behavior related to AIDS. In this article, the various sociopsycholo gical theories/models that inform AIDS prevention are delineated; the socio psychological approaches in the contest of class, race, and gender issues a re critiqued; and an analytical framework that integrates behavioral and so cietal level variables to guide policy interventions is provided.