The ability of the AIDS quilt to motivate information seeking, personal discussion, and preventative behavior as a health communication intervention.

A Solomon 4-group-design-style field experiment examined the ability of the NAMES Project Foundation's AIDS Memorial Quilt (AIDS Quilt) to motivate information seeking, personal discussion, and behavioral outcomes among those who viewed it. Results indicate that the AIDS Quilt intervention explained significant differences in information-seeking motivations and information-seeking behavior. Information-seeking motivation positively predicted actual information-seeking behavior, which in turn predicted increased discussion and decreased risky behavior. Information-seeking motivation in itself did not predict discussion or behavior. The results suggest that campaigns designed primarily to increase information-seeking motivation can result in desired behavioral outcomes.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt as preventative education: a developmental analysis of the Quilt.

This study consisted of a survey given to college students (N = 560) at a rural university in the Pacific Northwest. The sample was randomly assigned into four groups, following the Solomon four-group study design. The two levels of treatment included interventions consisting of a visit to the AIDS Memorial Quilt for the experimental groups and attendance at an unrelated event for the control groups. Pretests were completed 4 weeks prior to interventions; posttests were completed by the entire sample 4 weeks after the interventions. Results confirmed expected differences among the four groups in terms of social distance, perceptions of people with AIDS, self-efficacy, and discussion of risky behavior. The results suggest that the AIDS Memorial Quilt addresses issues centrally related to behavior change and indicates support for the message interpretation process and stages of change models.