Parental knowledge and attitudes toward children with AIDS: influences on educational policies and children's attitudes.

Surveyed AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes of parents and their children to provide descriptive information on views about school policies concerning HIV-infected children and to test hypotheses regarding links between parents' and children's AIDS-related knowledge and attitudes. Results indicate that parents desire more information about presence of persons with AIDS (PWA) in the schools than is permissible by law and that a significant minority of parents objected to allowing HIV-infected students in schools. As predicted, more accurate parental knowledge of AIDS and knowing a PWA were associated with greater willingness to allow their children to interact with PWA and with greater acceptance of allowing HIV-infected children to attend regular classes. Support was also found for links between parents' and children's attitudes toward PWA. Implications for educating parents about AIDS transmission and inclusion of parents in the implementation of AIDS educational programs are discussed.

Developmental progression in children's knowledge of AIDS: implications for education and attitudinal change.

The effectiveness of curricula designed to enhance a child's understanding of AIDS may hinge partially upon incorporating information adjusted to the child's developmental status. Accordingly, we examined the developmental progression of children's understanding of illness transmission in general and AIDS in particular, as well as explored the relation between a child's knowledge of AIDS and his/her attitudes toward persons with AIDS. Knowledge of AIDS was manipulated through use of a brief educational intervention. Results support a developmental progression in knowledge about AIDS that is consistent with progressions related to illnesses in general. Knowledge enhancement was associated with positive changes in attitude.