Using the PRECEDE model to determine junior high school students' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about AIDS

The effectiveness of a one-period school-based AIDS education program on an adolescent population of seventh and eighth grade students (N = 585) was determined. An instrument based on the PRECEDE model was used to assess program effectiveness. Three-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences (p v .01) between pretest to posttest scores for knowledge, attitude, and beliefs for those who received the program versus those who did not by grade and gender of students. The intervention group scored significantly higher than the comparison group on knowledge gain for both seventh and eighth grade students and for males and females. On attitude items, a significant increase occurred from pretest to posttest for eighth grade students who received the program, but not for seventh grade students. The experimental group of eighth grade students scored higher on the attitudes component than the comparison of eighth grade students on the posttest. When attitudes were examined by gender for females in the educational intervention, an increase occurred in attitude scores from pretest to posttest. While belief scores increased significantly from pretest to posttest for the experimental seventh and eighth grade students, significant increases occurred only for experimental group females. Findings support the contention that a one-class period AIDS education program can affect more than just knowledge since attitudes and beliefs also were partially affected.