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Articles

Extending the Purview of the Risk Perception Attitude Framework: Findings from HIV/AIDS Prevention Research in Malawi

, , , &
Pages 210-218
Published online: 04 May 2009

The risk perception attitude (RPA) framework posits that efficacy beliefs moderate the relationship between risk perception and health outcomes. To extend the purview of the theory, this central hypothesis was tested in the context of HIV/AIDS-prevention behaviors. Data (N = 890) were collected from 8 districts in Malawi in southern Africa as part of a baseline research effort to obtain benchmark measures on key behavior-change indicators. Results pertaining to 2 behaviors, use of condoms and remaining monogamous, are reported in this study. Relationships between risk perception and behavioral intentions were not significant, but those between efficacy beliefs and behavioral intentions were. Furthermore, efficacy beliefs were found to moderate the relationship between risk perception and intentions to remain monogamous, but not between risk perceptions and intentions to use condoms. The model was able to explain approximately 40% of the variance in intentions to use condoms, and 19% of the variance in intentions to remain monogamous. Implications for health campaigns, particularly the need to strengthen efficacy beliefs and the need to be careful in enhancing risk perceptions without simultaneously strengthening efficacy beliefs, are also discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was made possible by the generous support from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The authors thank their colleagues in Salephera Consulting, Ltd., in Lilongwe, Malawi for their assistance.

The authors also thank Mr. Peter Roberts from the Center for Communication Programs, who was instrumental in the development of the BRIDGE intervention.

An earlier version of this article was presented at the May, 2005 Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, New York.

 

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