Psychology and susceptibility to the HIV virus

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HIV AND CANCER
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Attitudes and behaviour change Research has specifically examined the relationship between beliefs about HIV and behaviour change. Temoshok et al. (1987) reported
that perceived risk of AIDS was not related to changes in sexual behaviour. However,
they reported that anti-gay attitudes and fear were related to a change in sexual
behaviour. Several studies have also looked at the change in risky sexual behaviour in gay
men. Curran et al. (1985), McKusick et al. (1990) and Martin (1987) suggested that
there has been a reduction in such behaviour in gay men, reflecting their attitudes and
beliefs about HIV. Likewise Simkins and Ebenhage (1984) examined the sexual behaviour
of heterosexual college students and reported no changes in their behaviour. This again
reflects their attitudes towards HIV with their reports of being at low risk.
The interrelationship between knowledge, attitudes and behaviour The
relationship between knowledge and beliefs about HIV is a complex one. Health education campaigns assume that improving knowledge will change attitudes and therefore
change behaviour. In terms of HIV, one behaviour that is targeted by health educational
campaigns is safer sex (see Chapter 8 for a discussion of condom use). However, whether
increasing knowledge actually increases the practice of safer sex is questionable. There
are several possible consequences of knowledge:
I It is possible that increasing knowledge increases fear in the individual, which may
then cause denial, resulting in no effect on behaviour or even a detrimental effect on
behaviour.
I Alternatively, improved knowledge may improve the individual’s perception of reality
and their perception of risk, which could therefore cause a change in behaviour as
the individual is not experiencing fear.
I It is also possible that improving knowledge may increase the awareness of the
seriousness of the illness, which could cause individuals who actually contract the
illness to be blamed for this (victim blaming). Fear and victim blaming themselves
can also have a complicated interaction with other beliefs and also on the safer
sex practices of individuals. Fear and victim blaming may be related to denial, or
behavioural change, or prejudice, or helplessness, or a feeling of lack of control.
Therefore, promoting safer sex may be more complicated than simply increasing
knowledge (see Chapter 8 for a discussion of sex education influences).
Psychology and susceptibility to the HIV virus
Psychology may also have a role to play in an individual’s susceptibility to the HIV
virus once exposed to it. Several studies have examined the possibility that not all those
individuals who come into contact with HIV, become HIV+, and have suggested several
reasons for this. One train of thought argues that the lifestyle of an individual may
increase their chances of contracting HIV once exposed to the virus. Van Griensven et al.
(1986) suggested that the use of other drugs, such as nitrates and cannabis, increase the
chance of contracting HIV once exposed to the virus. Lifson et al. (1989) also argued
that the existence of other viruses, such as herpes simplex and cytomegalovirus (CMV),
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