News Finding: "Many of the participants in this study felt that pharmaceutical interventions such as PrEP might not be best for them and that they had enough personal agency to maintain their HIV status," he added.
Paper Finding: One of the key messages from this study is that among men at high-risk for HIV who remain HIV negative (i.e., ''positive deviants''), there may be successive decisionmaking across a timeline to a sexual event that reduces risk, even if a condom is not used.
News Context: "This study has made me think critically about what we think of as 'risk' and the role of the HIV prevention community in supporting black MSM," said Derek Dangerfield, Ph.D., assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and co-author of the study. "Many of the participants in this study felt that pharmaceutical interventions such as PrEP might not be best for them and that they had enough personal agency to maintain their HIV status," he added. The findings of this study inspired Dangerfield to further explore adaptive behaviors for viral load suppression among black gay and bisexual men.
Paper Context: As noted throughout this article, some of these findings are not unique as strategies for avoiding HIV, since there have been many mass media campaigns that promote condom use, HIV testing, and disclosure of HIV status and many of these behaviors are known and commonly used as prevention strategies among MSM; however, in-depth knowledge about who engages in these behaviors, to what extent, in what combinations, and how men otherwise at very high risk for HIV manage to do so, are limited. One of the key messages from this study is that among men at high-risk for HIV who remain HIV negative (i.e., ''positive deviants''), there may be successive decisionmaking across a timeline to a sexual event that reduces risk, even if a condom is not used. In combination, some of these decisions can be viewed adaptive risk reduction behaviors that facilitate avoidance of HIV, and some may have applicability to risk reduction interventions.