HIV education in the unpted states -how good is it?

Objective: To measure policies and programs related to HIV education at the state, district school, and classroom levels nationwide. Methods: All 51 state education agencies, a nationally representative sample of 413 districts, a nationally representative sample of 607 middle/junior and senior high schools, i-xi a random sample of 1961 classroom teachers were surveyed in 1994. Self-administered mail surveys and telephone follow-up were used at the state and district-levels. On-ste oersonal interviews were corxiucted at the school- and classroom-levels. Results: In 78.7% of states and 83.0% of districts, HIV prevention is a required education topic. All of the states that requre HIV education provide in-service training and materials on HIV education to schools; 61.9% of the districts that require HIV education orer in-service training and 73.4% provide materials to schools. However, only 35.7% of teachers who teach HIV education received in-service training during the two years preceding the survey. In addition, only about half of teachers who teach HIV education also cover related topics such as pregnancy prevention and STD prevention. While more than three-quarters of the health education dassroom teachers taught about the basic facts of HIV infection (86.6%), HIV transmission (83.8%), and reasons for choosing sexual abstinence (77.6%). only 37.1 % of these teachers taught about the correct use of condoms. Conclusions: This first ever study of the status of HIV education in the U.S. demonstrates that HIV education has been wtcely implemented. However, many teachers are not receiving adequate training and the coverage of important topics needs improvement.