This proposal seeks funding to continue the Principal Investigator's current project (MH #RO1-43823) in which findings from social psychological research on communication and persuasion are being used to describe and evaluate existing AIDS-educational video materials. The proposed project will extend the PI's analysis from general audience videos to videos targeted at three social groups with a disproportionately high risk for AIDS: African Americans, gay men (White, Black, and Hispanic), and Mexican Americans. The goals of the research are: 1) to describe existing educational video resources for each of these groups, and to evaluate them critically based on existing social psychological research on persuasion and communication; and 2) to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data for evaluating the effectiveness of each video with members of its target audience. In addressing these goals, the research will be informed by the Principal Investigator's neofunctional theory of attitudes. Video messages are hypothesized to be more effective in reducing AIDS-related stigma and increasing knowledge about AIDS when they address the primary psychological function already being served by the viewer's attitudes. Further, situational variables.that increase the salience of needs related to particular attitude functions are hypothesized to increase the effectiveness of AIDS videos addressing those functions. Descriptive and evaluation studies will be conducted sequentially for each of the three target groups. In the first phase of the project, a sample of 25 existing AIDS-educational videos targeted at African-Americans will be content analyzed. Then reactions to ten of the tapes by African-American residents of the Sacramento-Davis area will be assessed through focus group discussions and written evaluations. In the study's second and third phases, a similar approach (description of tapes through content analysis, evaluation with community members) will be used to examine videos targeted at gay/bisexual men and Hispanic Americans. The research will yield a theoretically-based evaluation of targeted AIDS educational videos, and will provide guidelines for use by AIDS-educators in developing new targeted messages about AIDS that can be broadcast on commercial television. Findings from the research will be disseminated to policy makers, AIDS organizations, and broadcasters.
