Underlying Factors Related to HIV/AIDS Prevention: Investigating the Willingness to Take Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Men-who-have-sex-with-men in Germany

Overview

Journal AIDS Res Ther

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2021 Sep 18

PMID 34535178

Citations 2

Authors

Michele Pazzini

Zsofia S Ignacz

Julia Tuppat

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: This study investigates the willingness of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Research in the HIV/AIDS field typically relies on clinical and epidemiological studies, thereby often excluding social dimensions of the illness as well as factors explaining its prevention. The current study analyzes HIV-prevention through an interdisciplinary theoretical approach. It aims to comprehensively understand the mechanisms associated with the willingness to take PrEP among MSM in terms of psychological, social, behavioral, cultural, and demographic factors.

Methods: We analyze data from the survey "Gay Men and AIDS" conducted in Germany in 2013 prior to market approval for PrEP. Analyses were performed using the statistical software SPSS 25.0, while results were visualized using the R programming language.

Results: We find that perceived risk of infection, social norms (anticipated HIV-stigma), practices (e.g. regular condomless sex), and socio-demographic factors (young age, being single) all have a positive effect on the willingness to take PrEP, while education reveals a negative, and income no effect.

Conclusions: Results indicate that beyond well-established socio-psychological mechanisms of health behavior, social factors play a crucial role in understanding the willingness of PrEP uptake. This study enriches existing health behavior theories with sociological concepts such as social norms and social practices.

Citing Articles

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Behavioral Intention of Receiving Monkeypox Vaccination and Undergoing Monkeypox Testing and the Associated Factors Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men in China: Large Cross-Sectional Study.

Luo S, Jiao K, Zhang Y, Xu Y, Zhou J, Huang S JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2024; 10():e47165.

PMID: 38502181 PMC: 10988377. DOI: 10.2196/47165.

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