AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education
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This paper suggests that continued high-risk behavior is the result of the heuristics used to make judgments under uncertainty, and that the same heuristics may be mobilized to increase the use of safer-sex practices. In order to explain why it is that individuals fail to make effective use of the information they may have concerning rates of infection, consequences of infection and their own at-risk status, theory and research in several areas will be considered. ⋯ It is worth reminding ourselves that public health campaigns in other areas have led to changes in behavior. Reasoning, even with its biases, is still the route by which we make decisions, most of them effective and self-protective.
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This article reports how a prenatal clinic in a major urban teaching hospital has developed and integrated an HIV education and counseling program into routine prenatal care. The patient population served are predominantly minority women living in an inner-city community that has been disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic. ⋯ The program has succeeded in involving a large population of women in an educational program, has identified HIV-1 seropositive pregnant women through voluntary testing, and has provided them with the necessary medical and social work services. Principles of program development are identified for use in other settings.
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Language, as a reflection of culture, not only mirrors the concepts of the society in which it is employed, but also shapes the consciousness of the people who communicate with it. Recently acquired terminology related to AIDS has had a dramatic effect upon American perceptions and traditions. Current suggestions that the term "HIV infection" be used as a substitute for "AIDS" when referring to the epidemic we currently face validly demonstrate the impact that semantics have upon accurately raising consciousness regarding the magnitude of a problem. People involved in AIDS/HIV instruction should take these concerns into consideration when presenting the AIDS issue.