The primary aim of this qualitative study was to explore the influence of HIV treatment optimism on the sexual behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) at public health clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We also explored the psycho-social dynamics of participants' sexual relationships in order to understand more broadly how these fa...

BACKGROUND Increased global access and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been postulated to undermine HIV prevention efforts by changing individual risk-taking behavior. This review aims to determine whether ART use is associated with changes in sexual or injecting risk-taking behavior or diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). METHODS...

Recent evidence suggests that the burden of new HIV infections in developing countries is concentrated among young people and females. Even with knowledge of how to protect oneself from infection, such information may not always be usable in daily situations of economic and social disadvantage that characterize the lives of many young people and women in poor countries. Using household survey d...

This study examined the extent to which cognitive planning and motives for sex can explain condom use at first intercourse with young females' most recent partner. A total of 133 female adolescents completed a questionnaire on cognitive planning (i.e., mentally preparing oneself for discussing condom use and for managing condoms), motives for having sex (i.e., having sex to express love, to exp...

OBJECTIVE To explore the reasons why men who have sex with sex workers in Kenya refuse to use condoms in order to develop potential interventions that might help to overcome these barriers. METHODS We conducted participant observations over a period of 2 months in the bars, discos, shebeens, and guesthouses of Mombasa, Kenya, where many of the sexual transactions are initiated. RESULTS Anal...

BACKGROUND HIV spread continues at high rates from infected persons to their sexual partners. In 2009, an estimated 2.6 million new infections occurred globally. People living with HIV (PLHIV) receiving treatment are in contact with health workers and therefore exposed to prevention messages. By contrast, PLHIV not receiving ART often fall outside the ambit of prevention programs. There is litt...

To create a safe work atmosphere, it is essential to control the spread of unsafe behaviors among construction workers. Based on group behavior theory, the relationship between the influence factors and means of spreading unsafe behavior among construction workers is verified using a structural equation model (SEM) and multiround research data. According to the research, (1) spreading methods o...