An investigation into support for restrictions on HIV carriers in the Chicago metropolitan area

Abstract

An investigation into support for restrictions on people testing seropositive for HIV is reported on. Data were collected during telephone interviews with two-hundred adults aged eighteen to sixty-five in the Chicago metropolitan area. Using the analytic technique of LISREL, six models which attempt to explain support for restrictions were tested. It was found that the model best supported by the data indicates that two groups contribute to support for restrictions on HIV carriers -one due to intolerance of homosexuality and one to mistrust of public health officials regarding their control and management of the AIDS epidemic. The relevance of these findings for public health policy makers is discussed.

Identity change, uncertainty and mistrust in relation to fear and risk of COVID-19

“…Degree of general trust in advice and guidance from scientific authorities has been shown to influence both perception of risks associated with health hazards (L€ ofstedt 2013) and credibility of specific recommendations for self-protection (Siegrist, Gutscher, and Earle 2005). The significance of the perceived trustworthiness of a source is particularly important when the hazard itself is new and has dreadful consequences, as demonstrated in early research into HIV/ AIDS (Goldsteen and Goldsteen 1990;Herek et al 1998). Consequently, we predicted that greater trust in science and scientists would result in a higher estimate of own risk of COVID-19.…”