Correlates of negative intent to receive an AIDS vaccine: an exploratory study

Our objective was to investigate demographic, behavioural, and psychosocial correlates of negative intent to receive a hypothetical AIDS vaccine. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 278 adults from three populations: gay men, African-American women, and persons who used illicit drugs (including injectable drugs). Twenty percent of the sample expressed negative intent. In controlled analyses, negative intent was significantly more likely among people reporting they had not had sex (past year) (P = 0.01), people who reported they worried about 'problems' that could be caused by an AIDS vaccine (P = 0.006), and those never diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (P = 0.04). Finally, although significance was marginal, persons reporting they had not had a flu vaccination in the past five years were about 1.9 times more likely to have negative intent (P = 0.055). Among this demographically diverse sample, behavioural and psychosocial (rather than demographic measures) were associated with negative intent to receive an AIDS vaccine.