Racial Identification and the Reach of National Latino AIDS Awareness Day

Background: HIV/AIDS continues to devastate Latino communities across the US. Few effective prevention-interventions reflect the reality of Latino/Hispanic cultural and linguistic needs. National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) is a national social marketing campaign (October 15) to encourage HIV awareness and testing. To be effective, local campaigns with culturally-appropriate messages are implemented. Methods: Street intercept interviews were conducted 2007 to 2010 across ten cities to determine awareness, subsequent actions, and reach of the campaign along with potential moderators of that awareness. The ten cities were long-standing Latino communities (NYC, El Paso, Santa Fe, San Antonio) or emerging Latino communities (DC, Atlanta, Houston, North Charleston, Rock Hill, Charlotte). Intercepts were conducted a week prior and after NLAAD. Results: 1589 street intercept interviews were conducted. 32% of all respondents indicated NLAAD awareness. 85% indicated they were Latino/Hispanic. A plurality self-identified as Mexican (44%). Respondents indicated 4 racial groups: Caucasian (35%), Black (13%), API (3%), and “other” (53%). A majority of Hispanic respondents self-identified as “other” mirroring census 2000 data. Self-identification differed by city (x2= .53, df =1080 p=.000), with over 90% in Charlotte identifying as “other”, while 0% did in San Antonio. In San Antonio, over 70% identified as Caucasian. Lastly, there were significant differences in reported NLAAD-awareness by racial self-identification with those identifying as Caucasian reporting higher NLAAD-awareness than others (p=.000). Conclusions: In creating local campaigns that center around specific ethnic groups we have to take into account nuances in racial and ethnic identification in order to mobilize and engage.