Perceptualand Motor Skills, 1992, 75, 1344-1346. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 1992
SOME STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT AIDS: AN INFORMAL LOOK ' JOI-IN TRINKAUS Bortrch College Summary.-The results of a convenience sampling of 558 undergraduate business students suggests that, while there is widespread knowledge of the existence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the fact that one having the disease need not necessarily feel sick and look bad, there appears to be comparatively little awareness of the availability of drug therapies and the relarive safety of the practice of donating blood.
There are a number of organizations, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, which publish regularly updated well-validated surveys of public knowledge and opinions regarding AIDS. These findings are frequently discussed and criticized in various publications, such as the Health Letter: Wolfe (1992), for example. There are also reports to be found in the literature of less formal inquiries on the same subject: Hays and Hays (1992) for instance. These latter studies are generally more sharply focused, tending to offer a micro- rather than a macroview of the field. Both approaches are important and collectively contribute to the development of a better understanding of this significant public health problem. Toward providing some limited but additional information to this combined data base on people's perceptions about AIDS, a written survey was conducted in the spring of 1992, among first-year baccalaureate students at a large business school in the northeast. The students mostly came from family environments in which the parents were married, high school graduates, working in blue-collar jobs, and living together. A language other than English is generally spoken in the home; the median family income is less than $20,000 a year; and the value of a college education is seen as a means for a better job and upward socioeconomic mobility. A total of 558 students out of a convenience sample of 593 opted to respond to the voluntary querya response rate of 94%. The composition of the responding group, which approximated the 1600-person universe, was as follows: 63% women and 37% men; 55% US nationals and 45% foreign; and 2% less than 18 years of age, 58% 18 to 20 years, 20% 2 1 to 23 years, and 20% older than 23 years of age. The students were asked for a "yes" or "no" answer to the following four questions: (a) Have you ever heard of the AIDS virus called HIV? 'Address enquiries ro J. Trinkaus, Ph.D., Baruch College, 1 7 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
1345
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF AIDS
(b) Do you think that a person who is infected with AIDS can look and feel well and healthy? (c) Are there prescription drugs available which can lengthen the life of a person with AIDS? (d) Do you think that you can get infected with AIDS by donating blood? The findings of the group (as a whole) and (stratified) by sex and nationality are shown in Table 1 and by age in Table 2. TABLE 1 NUMBER OF RESPONSES A N D PERCENTAGE FORTOTALITY BY SEX A N D Question and Response a
c
yes no yes no yes
d
yes
b
Total Group ( N = 558) % n
Women (n = 353) % n
BY
Men
US National
(n = 205) % n
(n = 308)
n
%
CITIZENSHIP Foreign (n = 250) % n
TABLE 2 RLSPONSES AND PERCENT BY AGE Question and Response a
b c
d
yes no yes no yes no yes no
< 18 yr.
18 to 20 yr. (n = 324) 70 n
21 to 23 yr. (n = 115) Vo n
> 2 3 yr. (n = 108) 8 n
11 0 10 1 10
96 4 82 18
90 10
1
37 53 47
94 6 77 23 69 31 51 49
(n = 11) % n 100 0 91 9 91 9 64 36
7 4
63
310 14 265 59 205 119 171 153
73 27 58 42 60 40
103 12 84 31 67 48 69 46
101
7 83 25
75 33 55 53
Most of the students appear to have heard of AIDS, and a large number seem to know that a person infected with AIDS can look and feel healthy. The first result is not surprising given the amount of attention being focused on the illness in large urban areas, particularly where the incidence of the disease is comparatively high. The second finding is not unexpected, either, given the number of healthy-loolung and relatively active public figures now announcing that they have AIDS. Surprising, however, is the companion finding of a large percentage of respondents reporting a lack of familiarity with the availability of prescription drugs to treat the disease. But,
1346
J. TRINKAUS
perhaps more unexpected, given the familiarity with AIDS, is the considerable misinformation about how the disease can be transmitted. Over-all, the findings of the query generally appear to be consistent across gender, nationality, and age. I t is recognized that the methodology was quite limited, in particular the restrictive reply format which did not provide for such information as the specific cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the respondents. Too, there is the inherent restraint on replication of the work and the intrinsic presence of institutional bias on the findings. However, the results seem to imply that, not optimal-awareness of AIDS, while there may well be suitable-but beliefs about treatment and how the disease is (not) spread appears flawed. This might suggest that to date informational programs about the disease have been more successful in sensitizing than in educating. Assuming that a college group would be better acquainted with AIDS than the general population, those responsible for enlightening the public about this disease might want to perhaps give some thought to modifying their programs. REFERENCES HAYS, H., & HAYS, J. R. (1992) Students' knowledge of AIDS and sexual behavior. Psychological Reports, 7 1 , 649-650. WOLFE, S. (1992) Americans still have many misperceptions about AIDS. Health Letfer (Public Citizen Health Research Group), 8(1), 14.
Accepted October 28, 1992.
SOME STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS ABOUT AIDS: AN INFORMAL LOOK ' JOI-IN TRINKAUS Bortrch College Summary.-The results of a convenience sampling of 558 undergraduate business students suggests that, while there is widespread knowledge of the existence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the fact that one having the disease need not necessarily feel sick and look bad, there appears to be comparatively little awareness of the availability of drug therapies and the relarive safety of the practice of donating blood.
There are a number of organizations, such as the National Center for Health Statistics, which publish regularly updated well-validated surveys of public knowledge and opinions regarding AIDS. These findings are frequently discussed and criticized in various publications, such as the Health Letter: Wolfe (1992), for example. There are also reports to be found in the literature of less formal inquiries on the same subject: Hays and Hays (1992) for instance. These latter studies are generally more sharply focused, tending to offer a micro- rather than a macroview of the field. Both approaches are important and collectively contribute to the development of a better understanding of this significant public health problem. Toward providing some limited but additional information to this combined data base on people's perceptions about AIDS, a written survey was conducted in the spring of 1992, among first-year baccalaureate students at a large business school in the northeast. The students mostly came from family environments in which the parents were married, high school graduates, working in blue-collar jobs, and living together. A language other than English is generally spoken in the home; the median family income is less than $20,000 a year; and the value of a college education is seen as a means for a better job and upward socioeconomic mobility. A total of 558 students out of a convenience sample of 593 opted to respond to the voluntary querya response rate of 94%. The composition of the responding group, which approximated the 1600-person universe, was as follows: 63% women and 37% men; 55% US nationals and 45% foreign; and 2% less than 18 years of age, 58% 18 to 20 years, 20% 2 1 to 23 years, and 20% older than 23 years of age. The students were asked for a "yes" or "no" answer to the following four questions: (a) Have you ever heard of the AIDS virus called HIV? 'Address enquiries ro J. Trinkaus, Ph.D., Baruch College, 1 7 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
1345
STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF AIDS
(b) Do you think that a person who is infected with AIDS can look and feel well and healthy? (c) Are there prescription drugs available which can lengthen the life of a person with AIDS? (d) Do you think that you can get infected with AIDS by donating blood? The findings of the group (as a whole) and (stratified) by sex and nationality are shown in Table 1 and by age in Table 2. TABLE 1 NUMBER OF RESPONSES A N D PERCENTAGE FORTOTALITY BY SEX A N D Question and Response a
c
yes no yes no yes
d
yes
b
Total Group ( N = 558) % n
Women (n = 353) % n
BY
Men
US National
(n = 205) % n
(n = 308)
n
%
CITIZENSHIP Foreign (n = 250) % n
TABLE 2 RLSPONSES AND PERCENT BY AGE Question and Response a
b c
d
yes no yes no yes no yes no
< 18 yr.
18 to 20 yr. (n = 324) 70 n
21 to 23 yr. (n = 115) Vo n
> 2 3 yr. (n = 108) 8 n
11 0 10 1 10
96 4 82 18
90 10
1
37 53 47
94 6 77 23 69 31 51 49
(n = 11) % n 100 0 91 9 91 9 64 36
7 4
63
310 14 265 59 205 119 171 153
73 27 58 42 60 40
103 12 84 31 67 48 69 46
101
7 83 25
75 33 55 53
Most of the students appear to have heard of AIDS, and a large number seem to know that a person infected with AIDS can look and feel healthy. The first result is not surprising given the amount of attention being focused on the illness in large urban areas, particularly where the incidence of the disease is comparatively high. The second finding is not unexpected, either, given the number of healthy-loolung and relatively active public figures now announcing that they have AIDS. Surprising, however, is the companion finding of a large percentage of respondents reporting a lack of familiarity with the availability of prescription drugs to treat the disease. But,
1346
J. TRINKAUS
perhaps more unexpected, given the familiarity with AIDS, is the considerable misinformation about how the disease can be transmitted. Over-all, the findings of the query generally appear to be consistent across gender, nationality, and age. I t is recognized that the methodology was quite limited, in particular the restrictive reply format which did not provide for such information as the specific cultural and ethnic backgrounds of the respondents. Too, there is the inherent restraint on replication of the work and the intrinsic presence of institutional bias on the findings. However, the results seem to imply that, not optimal-awareness of AIDS, while there may well be suitable-but beliefs about treatment and how the disease is (not) spread appears flawed. This might suggest that to date informational programs about the disease have been more successful in sensitizing than in educating. Assuming that a college group would be better acquainted with AIDS than the general population, those responsible for enlightening the public about this disease might want to perhaps give some thought to modifying their programs. REFERENCES HAYS, H., & HAYS, J. R. (1992) Students' knowledge of AIDS and sexual behavior. Psychological Reports, 7 1 , 649-650. WOLFE, S. (1992) Americans still have many misperceptions about AIDS. Health Letfer (Public Citizen Health Research Group), 8(1), 14.
Accepted October 28, 1992.
