Current Information Sources

Current Information Sources

Canadians were asked where they have typically obtained their information about HIV/AIDS in the past. Television news (53 per cent) and newspaper articles (46 per cent) are the most common information sources. Under three in ten got their information from health magazines (28 per cent), while television health programs and school are the source for approximately two in ten Canadians (21 and 17 per cent, respectively). Twelve per cent of Canadians have obtained information about HIV/AIDS from family or friends and one in ten have received information from books or the library (10 per cent), doctors (nine per cent), or the Internet (nine per cent). Less common information sources include television advertisements and advertisements in general (four per cent), AIDS organizations (three per cent), radio health programs (three per cent) or Health Canada (one per cent).

• Television news is more apt to be cited as a source among those aged 35 to 44 (60 per cent). Youth and those who earn between $20,000 and $39,000 are less apt to use this information source (41 and 48 per cent, respectively), as are people with low actual knowledge of HIV/AIDS (46 per cent).
  
• Residents of British Columbia are more apt to get their information from newspaper articles (53 per cent), while this is least likely in Quebec (37 per cent). The propensity for using newspaper articles as a source for information increases with age (57 per cent among those over 65), education and income (58 per cent among university graduates and highest income earners). Those who perceive a status quo in the risk of HIV infection are also somewhat more likely to cite this information source (52 per cent). People with a high self-rated knowledge of HIV/AIDS are somewhat less likely (41 per cent) to do so.
  
• Health magazines are cited less often by residents of Quebec (15 per cent), as well as youth (21 per cent), people with low education and income, and those with low self-rated knowledge of HIV/AIDS (21 per cent). People who know someone with the disease are more likely to cite health magazines (33 per cent).
  
• Residents of Alberta and those earning between $40,000 and $59,000 are slightly more likely to get HIV/AIDS-related information from a television health program (26 per cent both groups) than other Canadians. Youth (15 per cent) are less apt to do so than other individuals.
  
• As might be expected, school is more often cited as an information source among youth (65 per cent) and those with some university education (24 per cent) than other Canadians.
  
• Youth are less apt to get HIV/AIDS-related information from radio news (six per cent) than older people.
  
• People who know someone with the disease and low income earners are more likely than other Canadians to get their information about HIV/AIDS from family or friends (20 and 17 per cent, respectively).
  
• Individuals who are between the ages of 25 and 34 are more apt to cite doctors as a source of HIV/AIDS-related information (15 per cent) than others of different ages.
  
• People with some university education and those between the ages of 25 and 34 are more likely than others to cite the Internet (15 per cent each group). Individuals with low self-rated knowledge of HIV/AIDS, on the other hand, are less likely to do so (three per cent).