Hunter HIV/AIDS Research Team, Hunter College, New York, USA.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, USA.
J Behav Med. 2019 Jun;42(3):534-544. doi: 10.1007/s10865-018-0003-z. Epub 2019 Jan 1.
The present study examined how three psychosocial barriers-anticipated HIV stigma, HIV infectiousness-reduction beliefs, and optimism about available HIV treatments-related to HIV testing history and acceptance of an at-home HIV test among men who have sex with men. We also examined the mediating role of a variable that affects medical screening for other health conditions but has not yet been investigated in HIV contexts: the tendency to avoid psychologically threatening information. Volunteers completed a paper and pencil survey and were offered a free at-home HIV test during the 2015 Atlanta Pride Festival in Atlanta, GA. Anticipated HIV stigma, infectiousness beliefs, and treatment optimism were inconsistently related to HIV testing history and acceptance of an at-home HIV test, but all had direct effects on the desire to avoid HIV information. In a mediation model, each of these psychosocial barriers had indirect effects on both HIV testing outcomes via information avoidance. These findings suggest that information avoidance is an important proximal HIV testing barrier, thus providing a novel target for interventions and information campaigns.
本研究考察了三种心理社会障碍——预期的 HIV 耻辱感、HIV 传染性降低信念和对现有 HIV 治疗的乐观态度——与男男性行为者的 HIV 检测史和接受家庭 HIV 检测之间的关系。我们还考察了一个变量的中介作用，这个变量影响其他健康状况的医学筛查，但尚未在 HIV 环境中进行研究：避免心理上有威胁的信息的倾向。志愿者在佐治亚州亚特兰大市举行的 2015 年亚特兰大骄傲节期间完成了一份纸笔调查，并获得了免费的家庭 HIV 检测。预期的 HIV 耻辱感、传染性信念和治疗乐观态度与 HIV 检测史和接受家庭 HIV 检测不一致，但都对避免 HIV 信息的愿望有直接影响。在一个中介模型中，这些心理社会障碍都通过信息回避对这两种 HIV 检测结果产生了间接影响。这些发现表明，信息回避是一个重要的 HIV 检测近端障碍，从而为干预和信息宣传提供了一个新的目标。
