Individual Versus Community-Level Risk Compensation Following Preexposure Prophylaxis of HIV

Bibliographic Data

ID11021440
AuthorsMartin Holt (0000-0002-2586-8274, Martin Holt and Dean A. Murphy are with the Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Dean A. Murphy is also with the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney, Australia., corresponding author), Dean A Murphy (0000-0001-7846-5164, Martin Holt and Dean A. Murphy are with the Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Dean A. Murphy is also with the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney, Australia.), Dean Murphy (0000-0003-2752-7091, The University of Sydney)
Year2017
Volume107
Issue10
Pages1568-1571
Publication date2017-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2017.303930
PMID28817332
OpenAlexW2748445581
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited24

We analyzed the concept of risk compensation and how it has been applied in HIV prevention, paying particular attention to the strategy of HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In risk compensation, reduced perceptions of risk after the introduction of a preventative intervention lead to more frequent risk-taking behavior. Such a change may undermine the intervention’s protective benefits. We found that many studies purporting to investigate risk compensation do not assess or report changes in perceptions of risk, instead relying on behavioral measures. Our analysis suggests a complex and sometimes counterintuitive relationship between the introduction of a new prevention intervention, perceptions of HIV risk, and subsequent changes in behavior. As PrEP is introduced, we believe comprehensive assessment of community-level risk compensation—that is, changes in risk perceptions and behavior as a result of increased optimism about avoiding HIV among people not directly protected by PrEP—should not be omitted. We therefore suggest ways to assess prevention optimism and community-level risk compensation

Compensation (psychology) · Computer security · Counterintuitive · Environmental health · Family medicine · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) · Intervention (counseling) · Men who have sex with men · Optimism · Perception · Pre-exposure prophylaxis · Psychiatry · Risk assessment · Risk compensation · Risk perception · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access