The proposed research consists of an investigation of the effectiveness of a one and one-half hour HIV prevention session for two groups of substance abusers: (1) injection (IV) drug users; and (2) Non-IV drug users. Not only will the study examine whether the investigated prevention session improves subjects' attitudes toward safe and unsafe sexual practices; it will also examine whether any improvement in attitude is related to the subject demographics of age, gender, and sexual orientation.
This proposal first delineates the basic nature of the study, discussing its general purposes, significance, and conceptual framework as well as delineating the basic research questions and hypotheses. The second chapter presents a review of pertinent research. Specifically, the review examines studies of the impact of prevention on the attitudes of HIV drug users, and the general effectiveness findings of HIV prevention programs that are similar to the program that is to be investigated in the proposed research.
The third and final chapter of the proposal lists and discusses all of the methods and procedures that will be used in both the collection and analysis of data. Among the topics covered are: the basic research approach and design, statistical hypotheses, the design variables, instrumentation, and the statistics selected for analyzing data. The basic research problem is also restated in a more methodological context.
According to the newest statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control (1998), approximately 13 million people in the world now have AIDS. In America, 641,086 cases have been reported since the discovery of the HIV virus and about half of these have now died; it is further estimated that when nonreported cases are included, this figure rises to between 650,000 and 900,000 people. However, the Centers for Disease Control (1998) also reports a decline in reports of HIV/AIDS, attributing a great deal ...