| Abstract: | The most preferable approach to implementing an AIDS education program among homeless women would be to establish a systematic comprehensive procedure addressing political, social, economic, and health concerns facing the ethnic minority community. A pragmatic approach would be to implement health education programs within the closed environment of homeless shelters. Such programs should incorporate distribution of materials which include specific information about how AIDS can be transmitted and prevented using simple and culturally relevant language. Health education interventions should use former homeless women in addition to health educators in development of exercises to improve self-esteem, communication, and decision making skills as related to negotiation of safe sex with their partners. Implementation of this process may help health educators make a meaningful contribution to the promotion of AIDS education and risk reduction for HIV infection within the growing population of homeless women and children in the United States. |
