Online HIV prevention information : How black female college students are seeking and perceiving

Purpose – Two research questions are addressed: what are black female college students’ perceptions of current messages present on web sites about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention?; and what messages do black female college students find culturally relevant to them, and why? Results indicate that these women perceive several communication barriers including lack of trust and unfamiliarity with information sources, stigma ascribed to HIV, as well as misconceptions and traditional values held by some in the black community and health institutions. HIV prevention messages are perceived as relevant if they exhibit qualities including interactive features. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – To understand black collegiate women as health information seekers, it is important to engage paradigms that allow researchers to make sense of how group members construct their content needs, what helps shape this construction, and the meaning derived from the consumption of the informat...