AIDS publicity: some experiences from Scotland.

THE GOVERNMENT has begun spending ?20 million on publicity about the cquired immu e deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Newspaper, television, and radio advertising will be used together with leaflets. Our experience with producing leaflets on AIDS in Scotland shows how important it is to evaluate any type of mass media publicity before it is widely released. Any information must be based on a clear understanding of consumer perceptions and developed in conjunction with its target audience.12 This is the only way to ensure that it will say the right thing to the right people in the right way. Towards the middle of 1986 the Scottish Health Education Group (SHEG) decided to produce a leaflet pointing out the implications of AIDS for everyone?heterosexuals as well as homosexuals and drug addicts. First a rough draft of the proposed leaflet was produced and researched with the public, partly to obtain responses to the leaflet itself but also to explore general knowledge and attitudes on AIDS. The document was then revised and tested a second time. The research at both stages used qualitative small group discussion rather than quantified approaches using standard questionnaires. Six to eight respondents, carefully selected in social demographic terms, are brought together in an informal setting and asked under the direction of a psychologist or group moderator to discuss in depth the subject of interest. This technique is derived from market research3 but is now being more widely adopted within the social sciences.45 It overcomes many of the disadvantages of questionnaire methods, especially non-sampling errors such as lack of depth in probing. The method has been fully described in a previous article in the BMJ.6