AEGiS-06IAC: Increasing AIDS awareness among college students using visual arts and student AIDS activists.

6th International AIDS Conference

San Francisco, California, USA — June 20-23, 1990

Increasing AIDS awareness among college students using visual arts and student AIDS activists.

Int Conf AIDS 1990 Jun 20-23; 6:342 (abstract no. Th.D.864)
Goldstein MA, Van Ness J, Friis-Hansen D, Platt R, Seamans W; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

OBJECTIVE: To increase awareness of AIDS issues and promote behavioral change in a student population using a variety of visual art forms with assistance of student AIDS activists (ARMIT).

METHODS: Our prior research has shown that traditional methods of raising awareness to AIDS issues have had limited success. Humanizing AIDS awareness activities may impact on behavioral change. We developed unique visual arts programs around AIDS themes. These included a student art contest and exhibition, a quilting project, displays of AIDS quilts and photographs of individuals in the terminal phases of AIDS.

RESULTS: The art contest stimulated considerable interest. Viewers of the AIDS quilts felt the experience was poignant and very personal. Responses to the photographs were so dramatic that a permanent show was organized.

CONCLUSION: We sought to increase awareness and emotional response to AIDS issues using visual arts as media and student AIDS activists as promoters of the programs. Visual art appears to be an effective, non threatening and novel means of increasing awareness to AIDS issues in college students. It is our contention that the emotional responses created by these programs will result in positive behavioral changes.

Keywords: AEGIS, Students, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Art, Occupational Therapy, Attitude to Health, Awareness, Adult, Human, utilization, rehabilitation, ICA6

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ThD864