This proposal concerns the application of recent theoretical developments in the area of attitude and behavior change to the design of HIV-prevention interventions to reduce sexual risk behavior. Four projects will be developed by the PI and her team. Project 1 (currently funded through an R01) comprises a field experiment concerning selective exposure to HIV-prevention materials and participation in HlV-prevention counseling interventions. Its results will allow us to estimate which people are likely to come into contact with preventive programs and to design these programs in ways that attract the most reluctant audiences. Project 2 will include the collection of pilot data for a randomized control trial to study the influence of the interventionist's expertise vs. laity, as well as the demographic similarity between the facilitators and recipients of HIV-prevention intervention, primarily among African-Americans. This project will yield invaluable data concerning the best selection of experts and lays for maximal impact of HIV-prevention interventions on the reduction of sexual risk behavior for gender- and ethnicity-diverse populations. Project 3 will study the influence of action goals (thinking about having sex, intentions to be abstinent) on the formation and change of attitudes and behaviors in this domain through a series of preparatory laboratory experiments, and a pilot field study. Thus, Project 3 will provide the basis for investigating the degree to which sexual abstinence and sexual activity intentions may increase the effectiveness of HIV-prevention interventions for audiences with well- vs. ill-formed attitudes about risk reduction practices. Project 4 will comprise pilot experiments on the influence of interventions that conflict with the likely subsequent behavior of recipients and the need to refine them anticipating noncompliance behavior. This pilot research is essential to replicate our earlier findings that making unrealistic requests as part of a preventive intervention elicits noncompliance and ultimately leads to recipients' inferences that they have a negative attitude about risk reduction behaviors. The career development plan focuses on activities designed to advance the candidate's progress toward senior status and leadership in the field, including conference attendance, conference organization, collaboration with senior scientists, as well as training of students, postdoctoral associates, and junior faculty, and dissemination of research in the community.
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