AIDS and Behavior

Edited by:
  • Thomas L. Patterson
Plenum. 4/yr. USA $150, elsewhere $175 (institutional); USA $50, elsewhere $59 (personal)
HIV particles budding from an infected T-cell. Credit: NIBSC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

While there have been great advances in the understanding and treatment of HIV, there is, at present, no cure. And, while promising candidate vaccines are being readied for testing, an effective, widely available vaccine is not anticipated in the foreseeable future. Thus, primary prevention of HIV transmission is of paramount importance in curtailing the pandemic.

The behavioural and social sciences have played and will continue to play a critical role in understanding the factors associated with HIV-related risk behaviours, both sexual and drug-related, and in the development of interventions designed to reduce such behaviours among HIV seronegative as well as HIV seropositive individuals.

The role of these sciences, however, is not limited to changing behaviour that might lead to infection. They also play a key role in understanding factors associated with medication adherence, with understanding an individual's coping response, with identifying the neuropsychological impact of HIV infection on cognitive functioning, and with examining the emotional effects of HIV such as depression. Such understanding can help in the development of interventions which will improve people's lives in all these areas.

HIV-related behavioural and social research was often published in broad-based public health journals or more clinically focused HIV publications, but the growth in such research makes AIDS and Behavior a welcome new vehicle for its dissemination.

The journal has an outstanding editorial board, a veritable Who's Who of the field. Many of the articles are empirically based rather than theoretical reviews or commentaries, but non-empirical articles are also welcomed. Emerging areas of research are more fully explored by groups of five to seven thematically linked papers co-ordinated by a guest editor, usually an expert in that particular area.

Topics span the gamut from primary to secondary prevention, adjustment to living with HIV, and the influence of a host of psychosocial factors on risk behaviour and adherence. The research is of high quality, perhaps reflecting the fact that many of the contributing authors are inveterate investigators. The journal is attractive and well formatted, with clear text, tables and figures. Articles are usually from eight to ten pages long, although longer articles are also published; turnaround time is satisfactory.

Anyone interested in this area of HIV research will be well served by examining AIDS and Behavior.