Abstract: ObjectiveTo examine the manners of knowledge acquisition and psychological needs aboiut AIDS and their conformity among different target populations,and to provide reference for establishing appropriate health education models on AIDS.MethodsWith stratfied cluster random sampling,5 894 peopple aged 15-59 years were selected from general population and populations at high risk of AIDS in 8 cities of Jiangsu province and surveyed with a self-designed questionnaire.ResultsIn the general population and focus population,the major manners of knowledge acquisttion and psychological needs about AIDS were television,newspapers and books,broadcast,internet,lectures in the school,and publicity materials.In the population at high risk of AIDS,voluntary counseling and testing was the fifth major mamer for acquisition of AIDS knowledge and the propaganda from the staff engaged in AIDS control was the fifth major psychological need.The conformity between the resources of knowledge acquisition and psychological neesds about AIDS was 50%-90% in the general population and obviously higher than that of focus population(45%-70%)and high risk population(35%-70%).The conformity was positively correlated with the level of AIDS knowledge.ConclusionThe manners of knowledge acquisition and psychological needs about AIDS are different among different target populations and appropriate method of health education on AIDS should be selected based on the characteristics of the population.