Sexual Behaviors of HIV/AIDS Subjects

A disease later to be defined and designated as acquired immunity deficiency syndrome (AIDS) began attacking human beings at some point in the 1970s or, perhaps, even earlier. The discovery in 1980 that a virus, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), was the causative agent of AIDS confronted humankind with an epidemic potential not encountered since the polio emerged in 1885 and, perhaps, not since bubonic plague swept northern Europe in the fourteenth century.

The absence of a cure for AIDS or a vaccine for HIV resulted in a massive effort to stop the progress of HIV/AIDS through behavior modification. Over time, these efforts began to produce positive outcomes, as the incidence of HIV-positive diagnoses, the development of AIDS among HIV-positive patients, and AIDS deaths began to decline in the developed nations where such efforts were the most intensive and well funded. Disturbing changes in these trends began to appear by mid-1999; however, as the Centers for Disease Control in the United States found that the rates of decline in HIV-positive diagnoses, the development of AIDS among HIV-positive patients, and AIDS deaths were slowing (Bynum, 1999). A research study investigating these trend changes is presented in the remainder of this proposal.

A number of propositions have been advanced as explanations for the apparent changes in the trends i

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tcome that is highly valued. The subjective norm is a function of a person's perceived expectation that one or more referents think one should or should not perform the behavior (nb) and the motivation to comply (mc) with the referent(s) (Ajzen, 1991). The beliefs that underlie a person's subjective norms are called normative beliefs (Fishbein & Guinan, 1996). Fishbein and Guinan (1996) argued that behavior can be explained in terms of a limited number of concepts. The theory can be represented by the equation B-1 =(AEI)wl + (SN)w2, where wl and w2 represent standardized regression coefficients (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). The TRA asserts that the behavior of interest can be determined by the individual's intention to engage in the behavior at the most global level. Attitudes toward the behavior and subject norms are antecedents to intentions and form the second level. The third level explains these attitudes and subjective norms in terms of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior and about the normative expectations of relevant referents. This theory then attempts to explain behavior from the perspective of a person's beliefs, which are based on information one has about the real world (Fishbein & Guinan, 1
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Approximate Word count = 9941
Approximate Pages = 40 (250 words per page)

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