Few Have Changed Behavior Because of AIDS Threat, Poll Finds

Only 15% of Californians have changed their behavior to avoid contracting the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, even though 23% of the state’s residents believe that they are at risk, according to a Gallup Poll commissioned by hospital executives.

The paradoxical findings were termed both “surprising and disturbing” by pollster George Gallup, who released the results at a press conference here Thursday.

Gallup said that while California’s residents are generally well-educated about the epidemic, the biggest knowledge gaps exist among poor people, the less educated and minorities.

On the plus side, Gallup said, “AIDS hysteria” is way down.

Among those who said they had made behavioral changes, 49% said they had limited their number of sex partners and 5% said they had given up sex entirely. Only 9% said they now use condoms in response to the AIDS threat, although public health experts, including U.S. Surgeon Gen. C. Everett Koop, have long urged use of condoms by those with multiple sex partners.

The telephone survey of 1,000 Californians conducted last month had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.

The survey results indicate that “we cannot simply educate people once and assume that their behavior will change,” said John Mortimer, director of public policy of AIDS Project Los Angeles.

The results also “point strongly to the need to conduct educational campaigns that are culturally sensitive to minority communities and emanate from them,” Mortimer added.

The poll found that 53% believe that the government is “doing too little” to solve the AIDS epidemic, down from 55% last year. At the same time, the poll found that a backlash against government AIDS expenditures, which some in the AIDS community have feared, has not materialized. Only 5% said the government is “doing too much,” up from 4% last year.

When asked whether the government should provide addicts with bleach for cleaning needles to prevent the spread of AIDS--another measure strongly advocated by public health officials--46% said yes, while 49% said no. And by 57% to 39%, Californians said they are against the idea of distributing clean needles to drug addicts.

The poll found that only 23% of blood transfusion recipients had taken the HIV antibody test, a surprisingly low figure. People who received transfusions between 1977 and 1985 have been urged by medical and hospital associations to take the test.

Overall, 18% of the Californians surveyed had taken the antibody test, including 23% of the men and 13% of the women.