“Cure” Versus “Clinical Remission”: The Impact of a Medication Description on the Willingness of People Living with HIV to Take a Medication

Many people living with HIV (PLWHIV) state that they would be willing to take significant risks to be “cured” of the virus. However, how they interpret the word “cure” in this context is not clear. We used a randomized survey to examine whether PLWHIV had a different willingness to take a hypothetic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIDS and behavior 2020-07, Vol.24 (7), p.2054-2061
Main Authors: Fridman, Ilona, Ubel, Peter A., Blumenthal-Barby, Jennifer, England, Cameron V., Currier, Judith S., Eyal, Nir, Freedberg, Kenneth A., Halpern, Scott D., Kelley, Colleen F., Kuritzkes, Daniel R., Le, Catherine N., Lennox, Jeffrey L., Pollak, Kathryn I., Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J., Scherr, Karen A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Drugs
Health Psychology
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Infectious Diseases
Influenza
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original Paper
Public Health
Remission
Remission (Medicine)
Side effects
Symptoms
Treatment methods
Viruses
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Summary:Many people living with HIV (PLWHIV) state that they would be willing to take significant risks to be “cured” of the virus. However, how they interpret the word “cure” in this context is not clear. We used a randomized survey to examine whether PLWHIV had a different willingness to take a hypothetical HIV medication if it causes flu-like symptoms, but provides: (a) cure, (b) remission that was labeled “cure”, or (c) remission. PLWHIV (n = 454) were more willing to take a medication that provided a “cure” versus a “remission” if the side effects lasted less than 1 year. PLWHIV were more willing to take a medication that provided a remission that was labeled “cure” versus a “remission” (p = 0.01) if the side effects lasted 2 weeks. Clinicians and researchers should be aware of the impact of the word “cure” and ensure that PLWHIV fully understand the possible outcomes of their treatment options.
ISSN:1090-7165
1573-3254
DOI:10.1007/s10461-019-02769-1