AIDS-related information exposure in the mass media and discussion within social networks among married women in Bombay, India

Abstract

Married women are at high risk of acquiring HIV infection in India and health education remains the most feasible preventive tool in their context. In a survey conducted among 350 married women in Bombay, it was found that a majority had acquired information about AIDS from the mass media, especially television. Although 87% of women who knew of AIDS had been exposed to AIDS-related information in the mass media in the past four weeks, only 57% had discussed it within their social networks. Those with more exposure to AIDS information in the mass media were significantly more likely to discuss AIDS within social networks. The women were most likely to discuss AIDS with their husbands as a general social issue, followed by friends and family members and least likely to talk to husbands about AIDS as a personal issue relating to their sexual relationship. Increased frequency and duration of AIDS messages on television will have a positive influence on AIDS knowledge in this group.

PIP: Health education remains the most feasible preventive tool in the context of married women who are at high risk for acquiring HIV infection in India. The sample for the study reported in this paper comprised 350 married women in Bombay. Results showed that a majority of them had acquired information about AIDS from the mass media, particularly television. Sociodemographic analysis revealed 87% of women who knew of AIDS had been exposed to AIDS-related information in the mass media in the past four weeks and that 57% had discussed it within their social networks. Women were most likely to discuss AIDS with their husbands as a general social issue, followed by friends and family members. They were least likely to talk to their husbands about AIDS as a personal risk issue relating to their sexual relationships. Women's strategies for risk assessment may be inadequate owing to their dependency on knowledge and perceptions of AIDS acquired from brief and impersonal messages on television.