HIV prevention: analysis of sexual risk behaviors and intervention proposals

Abstract

The HIV-AIDS epidemic is one of the most important public health problems. However, pharmacological efforts have not been accompanied by efforts to improve behavioral prevention. For this reason, we analyze cognitive variables (perception of seriousness and fear of HIV, and reliability of condoms) and behavioral variables (use of barrier methods in stable and sporadic relationships and after substance use) that increase sexual practices at risk for HIV, as well as some of the strategies that have proven to be effective. For this purpose, 805 young people with an average age of 20.06 years (SD=2.49) (43.1% male and 56.9% female) completed the AIDS Survey (Ballester et al., 2007) in 2019. At a general level, on a scale from 0 to 100, an average perceived fear of 72.11 (SD=35.02) and a perceived probability of 18.25 (SD=23.56) were observed, showing a perceived condom reliability of 2.65 (SD=0.52) on a scale from 0 to 3. Regarding the systematic use of barrier methods, only 32.2% report using it systematically in stable relationships and 56.6% in sporadic couples, with 38.1% doing so after consuming substances. According to gender, women show higher average perceived fear (77.39 vs. 65.30; t=-4.77, p=.000) and perceived probability (20.06 vs. 15.88, t=-2.49; p=.013), although these differences are not significant in the behaviors. Thus, the young population continues to present a risk profile with gender differences, in which women still do not transfer their perceived probability and severity to the behavioral level. Therefore, it is necessary to continue with preventive efforts that have shown effectiveness, such as those multicomponent proposals that, from a gender perspective, have been based on socio-cognitive theories and participatory methodologies.