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Aids prevention campaigns based on fear ineffective
A new study has shown that the most familiar form of safe-sex campaign — consisting of radio and television ads reminding people of the dangers of AIDS — has no effect on condom use. The researchers concluded that ads focusing on making people aware of their risk or increasing their level of fear were not effective. Instead, they suggest that successful campaigns should be geared towards specific groups such as gay men, and include techniques of condom use under specific conditions.
The study, published in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin, was conducted by University of Florida researchers who reviewed the results of 354 HIV prevention programs conducted over the last 18 years. "Campaigns that do not get people to clearly imagine the situations in which they will be having sex do not increase condom use," said researcher Dolores Albarracín. "The approach has to be realistic; it has to anticipate the real problems of the individuals in that situation, such as being drunk or high. The reason that people don't use condoms is not that they don't know they should, everybody has heard that by now. They don't use them because it's not always easy. You have to help them attain new behavioral skills that allow them to overcome the obstacles impeding condom use," she added.
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