The Use of Psychosocial Models for Guiding the Design and Implementation of HIV Prevention Interventions

Conclusion

Changing individuals’ HIV risk behaviors is a formidable challenge. Behavior change represents the endpoint of conscious and unconscious decision-making processes that weigh relevant internal and external influences: interpersonal, social, economic, and psychological influences that are superimposed over traditions, values, and patterns of social organization within a cultural context. Such a complex decision-making process is not likely to be understood in unidimensional or simplistic terms. Hence, as the HIV epidemic continues to evolve, with new groups engaged in different patterns of relationships being affected, ever more sophisticated theories and intervention strategies will be needed. Theories that address multiple rather than single levels of causation and that go beyond a narrow focus on the intrapersonal level to also consider interpersonal and environmental influences will be needed to guide the development and implementation of HIV prevention interventions. By judiciously utilizing psychosocial and structural theories, by closely linking theory directly to programmatic content and mode of implementation, and by carefully evaluating program efficacy, we can better assess our prevention interventions and the relevance and utility of their underlying theoretical models.