Women's HIV risk reduction efforts and traditional models of health behavior: a review and critique.

Abstract

This article reviews the empirical literature on women and HIV prevention and evaluates the predictive utility of prevailing models of health behavior change. The review focuses on three constructs that are central to the health belief model, protection motivation theory, and the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior: perceived vulnerability to HIV risk, outcome expectancies related to HIV preventive behaviors, and self-efficacy to reduce risk. The critical review pays particular attention to methodological and conceptual problems that may arise in applications of these models to the specific circumstances of HIV and AIDS and the specific experiences of women. Last, the ways in which these models should be adapted and expanded to adequately explain extra-individual influences on women's preventive behavior are discussed.