Perception of HIV Risk and Preventive Strategies

A Dynamic Analysis

Bibliographic Data

ID4807269
AuthorsGeneviève Paicheler (Centre de Recherche Médecine, Maladie et Sciences Sociales (CERMES), Paris, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume3
Issue1
Pages47-70
Publication date1999-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHealth An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4593 • E-ISSN: 1461-7196
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136345939900300103
OpenAlexW2148382175
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited38

Since knowledge about HIV transmission seems very good, many observers are surprised that more people do not practise behaviour, like safer sex, designed to minimise risk of contracting the disease. Yet, previous studies have not shown that there is a direct link between knowledge and behaviour. New models, based on people's concrete experiences, are therefore needed. The goal of this qualitative research, based on 61 in-depth interviews conducted in France, is to describe how people understand the threat of AIDS and how they face the risk of transmission in their sex lives. In order to understand preventive actions, we must study how information is interpreted and how knowledge is integrated, so that people perceive general or personal risk. We must also specify the way in which people distinguish between aspects of risk perception and vulnerability; feelings of personal control, constructed on the basis of social experiences; characteristics of situations; and finally, the dynamics of action. The proposed risk management model accounts for these diverse factors in elucidating the great diversity of actions reported. This dynamic, non-linear model is designed to capture both the impact of perceptive and cognitive elements on action and vice versa

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Computer security · Feeling · Perception · Preventive action · Risk perception · SAFER · Applied Psychology · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Computer Science · Medicine · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Risk Perception and Management · Social Psychology