Be wise - condomize? Over de relevantie van de culturele achtergrond van in Nederland wonende Ghanezen voor voorlichting over HIV/AIDS.

Despite obvious differences in cultural background among various target groups, so far there has hardly been any research into possible consequences of these differences for HIV/AIDS public information documents. This article reports on two pilot studies conducted among people from Ghana living in the Netherlands. In one pilot study two brochures were tested using the plus-and-minus-method. In the other pilot study a questionnaire was administered including several questions on traditional African beliefs. Though neither study could be conclusive, both studies had some remarkable outcomes. In the plus-and-minus-tests the behavior of the subjects was notable: they hardly ever qualified a text fragment as negative, and positive opinions were hardly ever motivated in terms of text characteristics. Analysis of the answers given to the questions in the questionnaire revealed statistically significant relations between traditional African beliefs on the one hand, and opinions about the curability of AIDS, as well as intentions to visit a traditional African healer if the subjects would suffer from AIDS on the other hand.