Back to Search
Start Over
The Burden of Living With HIV is Mostly Overestimated by HIV-Negative and Never-Tested Men Who Have Sex With Men.
- Source :
- AIDS & Behavior; Nov2021, Vol. 25 Issue 11, p3804-3813, 10p, 2 Charts
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- To assess whether HIV-negative men who have sex with men (MSM) have realistic views of the current implications of living with HIV, we compared data of 950 tested HIV-negative and 122 never-tested MSM on anticipated consequences of an HIV-infection to the actual experiences of 438 MSM living with HIV. Data were collected with a self-reported, web-based survey conducted between May–June 2019 in the Netherlands. Results indicated that, compared to HIV-positive MSM, HIV-negative MSM significantly overestimated 95% (37/39) of items assessing HIV-related burden. Never-tested participants overestimated 85% (33/39) of items. Overestimation in never-tested MSM was modified with increasing age and having HIV-positive friends/relatives. The high level of overestimation suggests the ongoing need to correct for misperceptions, as this could help reduce stigma towards those living with HIV and diminish fear of an HIV-diagnosis. The latter might be important to improve testing uptake in older never-tested MSM with outdated views on HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- HIV infections
SOCIAL stigma
SURVEYS
QUALITY of life
MEN who have sex with men
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10907165
- Volume :
- 25
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- AIDS & Behavior
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 153339527
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03281-1