Issues in the evaluation of AIDS education programs. The case of California

Health education is currently considered the most important factor in the prevention of HIV infection. Many AIDS education programs have started within the past several years, but few have undergone rigorous evaluation. This article presents findings from an outcome evaluation of the state of California AIDS Education and Prevention Program, the largest AIDS public education program in the country. The data suggest that the specific educational intervention programs suffered from many design defects which made it impossible to determine accurately the effectiveness of the programs. The programs did not use standard pre/post design, for example, or use standardized testing procedures. Moreover, only cognitive knowledge about AIDS transmission and prevention was stressed in the educational interventions and measures of effectiveness. The Education and Prevention Program must now move to promoting and measuring attitude and behavior change in addition to cognitive knowledge. The article concludes that AIDS education and prevention programs must place greater emphasis on conducting thorough evaluations, if the goals of attitude and behavior change are to be achieved.