This chapter reports the results of focus groups conducted with urban adults in Zimbabwe. The focus groups were designed to extract information about people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS as well as information about people's preventive behavior and their responses to televised HIV/AIDS public service announcements (PSAs). Premised by the Extended Parallel Process Model, the focus groups produced illuminating results. In this chapter I begin by giving some background information about the HIV/AIDS situation in Zimbabwe. Next I examine the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), a model that was initially designed to explain fear appeal processes in HIV/AIDS messages. Finally, I outline the methods of data collection and data analysis that were used and the indicators of rigor that were used to assess the quality of the research before relaying the results of the focus group discussions.

Because past research sufficiently documents that women are more at risk of HIV infection, I augment those findings by arguing that women in Zimbabwe are at a disadvantage regarding the practice of safe sex as a result of cultural practices that increase their chances of infection. Such practices include gender hierarchies, sexual cleansing, polygyny, the preference for dry sex, and the importance of female fertility. Although these issues are not directly addressed in mass-mediated HIV/AIDS prevention messages, women are aware of them and are largely aware of the high risk that these practices pose.