Abstract
Objective: This research aimed to describe the characteristics of HIV optimism, and to investigate whether HIV optimism (reduced concern about HIV and beliefs that HIV positive people with undetectable viral loads cannot pass on the virus) is associated with HIV risk behavior and psychological factors including self-esteem, loneliness, sexual sensation-seeking and sexual compulsivity.
Method: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was conducted with gay and bisexual men in the Tokyo and Kanto area recruited using E-mail and face-to-face contact through snowball sampling using gay web portal sites, gay social groups and personal social contacts. The data of 94 (50.3%) men was used for analysis.
Result: The percentage of respondents reporting consistent condom usage was 52.6%. The sample of 31.9%-3.2% agreed with HIV optimism statements. HIV risk behavior tended to be associated with higher HIV optimism. High optimism was associated with higher sexual sensation-seeking, and tended to be associated with higher sexualcompulsivity. Moreover, ANOVA indicated an interaction between HIV optimism and HIV risk behavior on self-esteem.
Conclusion: The results indicate an association between reduced HIV concern and HIV risk behavior among Japanese gay and bisexual men of this sample. Moreover, HIVoptimism is associated with psychological factors. However, these results should not be generalized because of sampling bias. This study suggests that HIV prevention interventions among gay and bisexual men should take into account HIV optimism and the need for psychological support. In order to clarify the psychological support for gay and bisexual men, further research on HIV optimism is needed.
