The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, and behavioral intentions related to HIV/AIDS among rural, middle-aged women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women are becoming infected with HIV at greater rates than men. Most educational efforts to prevent HIV infection are geared toward childbearing age women ages 15-44; yet women over 45 years of age account for nearly 10% of the HIV infection rates and nearly 17% of AIDS cases among women. One theory to assist in explaining behavioral intentions of middle-age women is Theory of Planned Behavior. According to this theory, the best predictor of behavior is behavioral intention. Thus, attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were examined to determine behavioral intentions. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study. A self-report survey was designed to systematically depict the profile of participating rural women. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, measure of central tendency and variance were calculated for each independent variable on the survey. T-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine differences in subgroups. Overall, 82 women participated in this study. Preliminary results showed that 24.7% of the women had only one sexual partner in their lifetime while 43.2% had 6 or more sexual partners in their lifetime. The majority of the sample (85.4%) reported they strongly disagreed that it was not important for them to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Over half of the sample reported they were sure that condoms protected them from HIV infection, yet 34% reported neutral or likely that a negative response would occur if they tried to communicate with their partner about condoms. Some women also reported they did not think condoms were easy to use (18.7%). Over half (62%) of the sample would be comfortable asking their partner if he/she had been tested for HIV, yet only 52% would be comfortable to get an HIV test done. Rural, middle-aged women must be included in the educational efforts to prevent HIV infection. They often are a missed target-audience for such educational efforts. Utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior, health education efforts can be created to for this potential at-risk population.Keyword(s): disease prevention, gender issues, older adult/aging issues