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Abstract
HIV infection is increasing among women in the US, particularly among racial minority groups. The hypothesized theoretical model considered the extent to which indicators of depression, sexual desire and sexual importance would predict whether sexual behaviour would occur for a sample of 96 women with HIV. The results of this study supported previous findings that depression significantly decreases the chances that sexual behaviour will occur, while sexual desire and sexual importance moderately increased the chance occurrence of this variable. The results of this study suggested that the mental health of women with HIV significantly affects whether they engage in sexual behaviour. HIV-prevention and intervention models need to be more inclusive of those factors that are most salient in the sexual relationships of women. Moreover, additional research is needed to examine the importance of maintaining sexual behaviour for women with HIV.
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health (R01MH62293). We would like to thank the women who participated in this study.