AIDS education of college students: the effect of an HIV-positive lecturer.

Seventy-five introductory psychology students participated in an experiment to assess the effectiveness of 2 types of AIDS education. In the "disclosed" and "undisclosed" conditions, students were given a lecture about AIDS/human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by a person who has been diagnosed with HIV disease. The lecturer revealed his HIV status in the disclosed but not in the undisclosed condition. A control group received no education. Significant differences were found in a 3 x 3 (Time x AIDS Education) analysis of variance. Knowledge and Attitude posttest scores were significantly higher than pretest scores. Students in the disclosed condition scored higher than students in the control condition on both Knowledge and Attitude posttests. For Behavioral Intent, students in the disclosed condition scored higher than students in the control condition. Subjective comments made by the students indicated that a lecturer with HIV disease had a dramatic impact on their perceptions about AIDS.