Culturally Sensitive AIDS Educational Videos for African American Audiences: Effects of Source, Message, Receiver, and Context

• Published in: American journal of community psychology Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 705 - 743
• Main Authors: Herek, Gregory M., Gillis, J. Roy, Glunt, Eric K., Lewis, Jeffrey, Welton, David, Capitanio, John P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers 01.10.1998; Springer; Plenum Press; Blackwell Science Ltd
• Subjects: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Adult; Adults; African American; African Americans - psychology; AIDS; AIDS education; AIDS/HIV; Biological and medical sciences; Black American people; Black people; California; Cultural Sensitivity; Culture; Educational Programs; Female; General populations; Health Education; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; persuasion/communication; Prevention and actions; Program Evaluation; Psychology; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sex education; videos; Videotape Recording; Videotape Recordings; Videotapes; Belief; Social environment; Human; Immunopathology; Negroid; AIDS; Educational schedule; Immune deficiency; Infection; Prevention; Attitude change; Viral disease; Cultural environment; Black American; Public health
• ISSN: 0091-0562; 1573-2770
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1022157914906

The importance of using culturally sensitive educational materials in HIV‐related interventions with racial and ethnic minority groups is widely recognized. However, little empirical research has been conducted to assess the relative effectiveness of different techniques for creating culturally sensitive AIDS educational videos. Two field experiments with three samples of African American adults (N = 174, 173, and 143) were conducted to assess how source characteristics (race of communicator), message characteristics (multicultural message vs. culturally specific message), and audience characteristics (racial distrust and AIDS‐related distrust) influence proximate (perceptions of the message's credibility and attractiveness) and distal (AIDS‐related attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions) output variables for AIDS educational videos. In Study 1, an AIDS video with a culturally specific message was rated as more credible, more attractive, and of higher quality than was a video with a multicultural message. The multicultural message was rated less favorably when delivered by a White announcer than when the announcer was Black. In Study 2, the same pattern was replicated with a second community sample and a campus‐based sample. Study 2 also indicated that a multicultural message might be more effective if delivered in a culturally specific context, namely, after audience members watch a culturally specific video. Minimal changes were observed in distal outcome variables. It is argued that influencing proximate output variables is necessary, though not sufficient, for effecting long‐term change in AIDS‐related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.