AIDS knowledge and attitudes of Hispanic Americans. Provisional data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey.

This report is one of two special reports examining knowledge and attitudes about acquired immunodeficiency drome (AIDS) and the human immunodeficiency virus IV) among selected minority subgroups of the U.S. population. Based on data collected in the National Health Inten4ew Survey (NHIS), this report describes various aspects of AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behavior for Hispanic adults 18 years of age and over. It presents differentials by age, sex, education, and specific Hispanic ancestry and compares selected measures for Hispanic and non-Hispanic individuals. The other special report (Advance Data From P?tal and Health Statktics, No. 165] presents data for black adults and compares them with data for their white counterparts. Both reports are based on provisional data for the period May–October 1988. These 6 months of data have been combined to provide a sufficient number of respondents to examine differences in knowledge among various subgroups of the Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations. Even with this aggregation, the sample of Hispanic adults is fairly small, and sampling errors are large. Thus, only large differences are statistically significant. Some changes in knowledge occurred over this 6-month period; however, the changes were of similar magnitude for Hispanic and nonHispanic adults and should not affect the comparisons made in this report. Since 1987, the National Center for Health Statistics has included a special set of supplemental questions on the ult population’s knowledge and attitudes about AIDS d HIV in the NHIS. The first AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes Survey was in the field from August through December 1987. Provisional results of that survey were published on a montldy basis in Advance Data From I&l and HeaZth Statistics (Nos. 146, 148, 150, 151, and 153). During the first 4 months of 1988, the NHIS AIDS questionnaire was revised to meet current program needs for information about AIDS awareness. The revised AIDS Knowkxlge and Attitudes Survey entered the field in May 1988. Provisional findings for the total population for the period May-October 1988 have been published in Advance Data From Vial and Health Statistics, Nos. 160, 161, 163, and 164. The AIDS questionnaires were designed to estimate public knowledge and attitudes about AIDS transmission and prevention of AIDS virus infection. The data were needed as input for the planning and development of AIDS educational campaigns and for monitoring major educational efforts, for example, the series of radio and television public service announcements entitled “America Responds to AIDS” and the brochure “Understanding AIDS: both developed by the Centers for Disease Control. The 1987 and 1988 AIDS questionnaires were developed by the National Center for Health Statistics and interagency working groups established by the Information, Education and Risk Factor Reduction Subcommittee of the Public Health Service Executive Task Force on AIDS. The working groups included representatives from the Centers for Disease Control; the National Institutes of Health; the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and MentaI Health Administration; and the Health Resources and Services Administration. The current AIDS questionnaire includes items on sources of AIDS information; self-assessed levels of AIDS knowledgq basic facts about the AIDS virus and how it is transmitted; blood donation experience awareness of and experience with the blood test for the AIDS virus; perceived effectiveness of selected preventive measure$ self-