`sing-in' Planned For `messiah' 
On Sunday, Dec. 4, The Wyoming Valley Oratorio Society Will Host A ```messiah' 
Sing-in'' At The First Presbyterian Church On S. Franklin Street, Wilkes-barre 
Beginning At 3 P.m.

Agnes Kafchinski 
Nov. 24, 1994 
Agnes M. Kafchinski Of Sunbury Died Thursday In Sunbury Community Hospital.

By ANNE KAROLYI Times Leader Staff Writer
 Monday, November 28, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1C 





Most Luzerne County residents know the basics about AIDS. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But they may not be changing behaviors because of that knowledge. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And they just might not want to talk about it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 So suggests a recent Wilkes University poll conducted for The Times Leader
in anticipation of the university's AIDS Awareness Week. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Thomas Baldino, professor of political science, and Mike Garr, associate
professor of sociology and health administration, assessed local knowledge and
attitudes about AIDS. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Random computer dialing provided respondents for the telephone survey. From
Nov. 2 to 15, a team of Wilkes University students interviewed 120 residents
between the ages of 18 and 50. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That was a record low response rate, says Baldino, who had hoped to get at
least 200 participants. For example, The Times Leader has used Wilkes polls
before about the governor's race, gun control and abortion. Respondents for
those topics were 286, 410 and 467, respectively. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One reason for the limited response was the age restriction placed on the
survey in an attempt to reach people who might be most affected by AIDS. "We
have a large elderly population in this county, and we turned a lot of them
down," Baldino explains. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But some people contacted refused to participate. They could be offended by
or not interested in the topic, Baldino says. "It might be a moot point for
some people." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Baldino and Garr did not keep track of how many people refused to answer
the pollsters' questions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The 120 who did participate were asked their age, level of education, sex
and marital status. Their answers to questions about AIDS were tallied by the
number of correct and incorrect answers and compared according to personal
differences. For example, those with higher levels of education knew more
about AIDS than those with less. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A majority were knowledgeable about basic AIDS information: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 -- 85 percent knew that AIDS is caused by a virus. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 -- 93.3 percent knew that a person can have AIDS and still look and feel
healthy. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 -- 93.3 percent knew that you cannot get infected if you are sneezed or
coughed on by someone with AIDS. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The answers match a national trend of more knowledge about AIDS. For
example, a 1989 Gallup poll found that 79 percent of people knew that AIDS
cannot be transmitted through a cough or a sneeze. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Many people in the local survey learned about AIDS from the media: 68.9
percent heard about AIDS on the radio and 73.1 percent read about the disease
in a newspaper. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 However, they might want more information. Of those who heard about AIDS on
the radio, 27.7 percent felt very informed and 62.7 percent only somewhat
informed by the source. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For newspaper readers, 32.2 percent felt very informed and 64.4 percent
could have used some more information. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 People are talking to others about the disease; 57.6 percent of survey
participants said they did so, with 34.3 percent of them feeling very informed
after such conversations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Nearly half of those surveyed -- 49.6 percent -- said they were not at all
concerned about contracting AIDS. Of the others, 32.8 percent said they were
somewhat concerned and 17.6 percent very concerned. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 About 22.5 percent of the respondents said they were not monogamous or have
been in a monogamous relationship for less than two years. Within that group,
condom use varies -- 36.8 percent said they always use a condom; 31.6 percent
said frequently, 5.3 percent said sometimes and 26.3 percent said rarely. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "That's the real question," says Lorraine Pierotti, director of public
information for Planned Parenthood of North East Pennsylvania. "People have
the knowledge, know a lot of facts. But are they applying it? Are they
changing their behavior?" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 About 43 percent of survey participants felt schools are an appropriate
source of information about AIDS, followed by doctors (31.6 percent), public
health officials (7.9 percent), family (6.6 percent) and clergy (3.9 percent.)
About 6.5 percent chose "other" on that question. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Schools might want to take note, Baldino suggests: The 37.5 percent who
said they had an AIDS education class in high school were about as
knowledgeable as those who didn't. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "That's a very interesting finding," he says. "Statistically, it doesn't
appear to have made a difference." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Schools might not be doing enough, says Bernard Healey, a state
epidemiologist and advocate of AIDS education. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You've got to look at who was the teacher, how long was the class, did the
teacher want to teach it, did the person want to attend? There are a lot of
factors which can affect what people learn and do about AIDS." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`people Know A Lot Of Facts, But Are They Changing Behavior?'