AIDS knowledge gaps: results from the first decade of the epidemic and implications for future public information efforts.

Throughout the first decade of AIDS, certain populations have been disproportionately affected by its spread, particularly men, blacks, Hispanics, and the young. Just as there are population differences in the spread of the disease, there are differences in knowledge about the disease as well. This article applies the knowledge gap framework to examine the nature and magnitude of gaps in knowledge among different populations. The analysis shows that persons of low education lag behind other groups in true-transmission knowledge (i.e., knowledge about ways in which HIV/AIDS actually is transmitted) and false-transmission knowledge (i.e., misconceptions about how the disease is spread).