AIDS risk-reduction guidelines: a review and analysis

Until an effective treatment or vaccine for AIDS is developed, the principal strategy for controlling its spread will remain persuading at-risk and diseased populations to modify behaviors implicated in the transmission of the disease. In the case of homosexual and bisexual men the "risk-reduction" or "safe-sex" brochure has emerged as the most widely used public health intervention modality. While there has been a proliferation of such brochures, to date no systematic analysis of the content or potential efficacy of these materials has been undertaken. The authors carry out two kinds of analyses of a sample of risk-reduction brochures. First, these materials are characterized in terms of 13 characteristics related to their content, and style. Second, the extent to which they incorporate the elements of a standard model of health communication is assessed. Limitations of existing brochures are identified and the implications of the findings for the development of future materials are discussed.