Why HIV infections have increased among men who have sex with men and what to do about it: findings from California focus groups.
A resurgence of sexual risk taking, STDs, and HIV incidence has been reported among men who have sex with men (MSM) in several countries. We asked 113 MSM in 12 focus groups conducted in five California cities to identify factors leading to increased risk taking and assess prevention messages to reduce risk in this population. Participants perceived that HIV risk taking has increased because (1) HIV is not the threat it once was due to more effective therapies, (2) MSM communicate less about HIV, and social support for being safe has decreased, and (3) community norms have shifted such that unsafe sex is more acceptable. The prevention messages ranked most likely to motivate risk reduction encouraged individuals to seek social support from friends. Themes ranked least likely to succeed were those that described the negative consequences of HIV or reinforced existing safer sex messages.
Morin
Stephen F
SF
Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. smorin@psg.ucsf.edu
Vernon
Karen
K
Harcourt
John Jay
JJ
Steward
Wayne T
WT
Volk
Jonathan
J
Riess
Thomas H
TH
Neilands
Torsten B
TB
McLaughlin
Marisa
M
Coates
Thomas J
TJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003142:Communication; D005006:Ethnicity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D021841:Safe Sex; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012944:Social Support