The study evaluated an AIDS Education program developed for use at Eureka Senior High School in Eureka, California. The program consisted of five days of AIDS instruction intended to inform students about the transmission, spread, symptoms and consequences of the disease among both adult and teenage populations.
Program goals were: (1) to increase students' level of knowledge about HIV infection and AIDS; (2) to increase safe sex (self-protective) behaviors among students who are sexually active; (3) to reduce the likelihood that teens who are not sexually active will elect to begin sexual activity during their high school years; and (4) to reduce the likelihood that teens who are not sexually active will engage in unprotected sex once they become sexually active.
The program, officially entitled "AIDS Awareness Week," consisted of a multi-media presentation utilizing videos, lectures, plays, talks by AIDS patients and printed materials. A different activity was presented each of the five days of the program. Participation in the program was required; however degree of participation was flexible. That is, students were invited to attend program events (held in the assembly hall) for each of the five days but were required to attend one event only.
The overall purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which the AIDS Education program at Eureka Senior High School met the four objectives set for it by program developers. In addition, since attendance was required for only one day, a subsidiary purpose of the program was to determine whether the degree to which the program met each of the four program objectives significantly differed as a function of the number of days students participated (one through five days).
Also, the existing research on AIDS Education has shown rather mixed findings with respect to whether there are gender differences in learning outcomes for instructional programs
(Hales & McG...