title: Interaction of mathematical modeling and social and behavioral HIV/AIDS research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  HIV is transmitted within complex biobehavioral systems. Mathematical modeling can provide insight to complex population-level outcomes of various behaviors measured at an individual level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HIV models in the social and behavioral sciences can be categorized in a number of ways; here, we consider two classes of applications common in the field generally, and in the past year in particular: those models that explore significant behavioral determinants of HIV disparities within and between populations; and those models that seek to evaluate the potential impact of specific social and behavioral interventions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We discuss two overarching issues we see in the field: the need to further systematize effectiveness models of behavioral interventions, and the need for increasing investigation of the use of behavioral data in epidemic models. We believe that a recent initiative by the National Institutes of Health will qualitatively change the relationships between epidemic modeling and sociobehavioral prevention research in the coming years.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Epidemiology & Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. scassels@uw.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cassels
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Goodreau
mesh_terms: D032763:Behavior Control / Q000379:methods*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012919:Social Behavior; D016896:Treatment Outcome