Getting the Message Out to Older Adults: Effective HIV Health Education Risk Reduction Publications

Abstract

Printed publications on HIV/AIDS for an older adult population were obtained from state public health departments within the United States in a previous study that explored the availability of age-specific HIV/AIDS prevention materials. The current study examines whether the HIV health education/risk reduction information contained in these publications is applicable and appropriate to the prevention needs of older adults. Based on an extensive literature review, four major thematic recommendations for designing HIV/AIDS risk reduction print materials for older adults were used as a framework to evaluate the content of these print publications. The results indicate that the currently available publications do not meet all the criteria when assessed using the four thematic categories of recommendations. These findings suggest that greater attention must be given to developing and securing HIV prevention educational materials that adequately address societal attitudes, myths, and biases encountered by older adults.