title: Comparing Perceptions with Actual Reports of Close Friend's HIV Testing Behavior Among Urban Tanzanian Men.
abstract: Men have lower rates of HIV testing and higher rates of AIDS-related mortality compared to women in sub-Saharan Africa. To assess whether there is an opportunity to increase men's uptake of testing by correcting misperceptions about testing norms, we compare men's perceptions of their closest friend's HIV testing behaviors with the friend's actual testing self-report using a unique dataset of men sampled within their social networks (n = 59) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We examine the accuracy and bias of perceptions among men who have tested for HIV (n = 391) and compare them to the perceptions among men who never tested (n = 432). We found that testers and non-testers did not differ in the accuracy of their perceptions, though non-testers were strongly biased towards assuming that their closest friends had not tested. Our results lend support to social norms approaches designed to correct the biased misperceptions of non-testers to promote men's HIV testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, 331 Rosenau Hall, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA. mulawa@unc.edu.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9687-421X
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mulawa
authors.affiliation: School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Thespina J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Yamanis
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, 331 Rosenau Hall, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balvanz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Lusajo J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Kajula
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, 331 Rosenau Hall, CB 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D010465:Perception; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support; D013636:Tanzania; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HIV testing; Men; Misperceptions; Tanzania