Abstract
Although HIV is contracted by individuals, it is typically transmitted in dyads. Most efforts to promote safer sex practices, however, focus exclusively on individuals. The goal of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework that specifies how models of dyadic processes and relationships can inform models of HIV-prevention. At the center of the framework is the proposition that safer sex between two people requires a dyadic capacity for successful coordination. According to this framework, relational, individual, and structural variables that affect the enactment of safer sex do so through their direct and indirect effects on that dyadic capacity. This dyadic perspective does not require an ongoing relationship between two individuals; rather, it offers a way of distinguishing between dyads along a continuum from anonymous strangers (with minimal coordination of behavior) to long-term partners (with much greater coordination). Acknowledging the dyadic context of HIV-prevention offers new targets for interventions and suggests new approaches to tailoring interventions to specific populations.
Highlights
Given the centrality of dyadic processes to HIV transmission, the goal of this paper is to propose a framework that incorporates dyads and relationships within models of HIVprevention
The third and fourth sections highlight links between the dyadic processes that are the focus of our framework and both individual-level and structural-level processes as they relate to HIV-prevention
All of these behaviors are affected by dyadic processes, but the emphasis here is on predicting those behaviors that most directly involve the coordination of two people, where coordination in this context is defined as the process through which two individuals act together to achieve a specific goal
Summary
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cprc_facpubs. B.R., Hops, H., Redding, C.A. et al AIDS Behav (2010) 14(Suppl 2): 189. This article is available at DigitalCommons@URI: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cprc_facpubs/33. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 September 06. Published in final edited form as: AIDS Behav. Published in final edited form as: AIDS Behav. 2010 December ; 14(0 2): 189–203. doi:10.1007/s10461-010-9802-0
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