Expert: Kristen Brannock, MPH - 2/25/2004

Question

Hello Ms.Brannock,

I'm a student working on an essay on whether there are diminishing public attitudes about AIDS and transmission when it comes to unprotected sex. I'm from Los Angeles and the LA Times just reported an increase of AIDs cases last year comparing it to the last jump in the mid-ninities. I'm looking for a statistic from a medical journal that would say something to the effect of "Despite being HIV Positve/Having AIDS this percentage of people are still having unprotected sex." Or "people who are not positive and are just having unprotected sex because they believe with the progression of medical treatments it's okay to have unprotected sex." Does that make sense. I really would like to tie in medical treatments to diminishing attitudes. I guess in my essay my point is that I want to say "Dimishing public attitudes have increased the number of HIV/AIDS cases." And then later in my essay talk about why they are diminishing, because of treatments and the whole attitude of AIDS isn't a death sentence anymore. IE: Magic Johnson, but he's still sick. I GREATLY appreciate your help. I've looked all over on the net, JAMA, medical journals and I can not find much. But, if you could at least point me in the right direction, I would be so GREATFUL. Thank You

Nick  

Answer
Hello,

I didnt have anything off the top of my head that I could share, but I did a quick PubMed search and came up with these articles that may be helpful. I only read the abstracts. There is also a link where you may be able to find the articles electronically.

In searching though, I did come across articles that have evidence against your thesis-so Id be cognizant of that and incorporate the opposing views to strengthen the article.

If you havent already, Id ask a librarian to assist in the research and try using some article databases to find more articles. I hope the below are helpful, and good luck!

HIV infection risk, behaviors, and attitudes about testing: are perceptions changing?
Adams AL, Becker TM, Lapidus JA, Modesitt SK, Lehman JS, Loveless MO.
Sex Transm Dis. 2003 Oct;30(10):764-8.
http://www.stdjournal.com/

HIV testing within at-risk populations in the United States and the reasons for seeking or avoiding HIV testing.
Kellerman SE, Lehman JS, Lansky A, Stevens MR, Hecht FM, Bindman AB, Wortley PM.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2002 Oct 1;31(2):202-10
http://www.jaids.org/