Impact evaluation of the 2008 national media campaign against AIDS

Health communication through mass-media, promoting safer sex practices, is a key-point in AIDS prevention. At the beginning of 2008 a National campaign on HIV risk has been launched through TV, cinemas and airport screens. It showed a young heterosexual couple buying condoms. A cross-sectional study, promoted by the Italian Minister of the Health, was conducted with a stratified sample of 500 subjects (15–59 years old, 50% males, from different Italian regions) to evaluate the impact of the campaign after 6 months. Data were collected through structured interview including socio-demographic variables, knowledge on HIV/ AIDS and HIV-related behaviours, and video recall. 5% of the sample recalled the video spontaneously and 23% needed a cue to recall it. Young people and women were more likely to recall. Implications of the psychosocial variables influencing video recall are discussed in the purpose to develop more effective communication campaigns