Table 1.

Summary of Articles About Congruency Between Self-Perceived and Reported HIV/AIDS Risk

			Self-perceived assessment
Author	Year	Population	Question and responses	Administration	Reported sexual behaviors	Reported drug behaviors	Congruence conclusions
Weisman	1989	430 adolescent women from Planned Parenthood Clinic in Baltimore	How much chance do you think there is that you will get AIDS in the next 5 years?	Face-to-face interview	Yesa	Yes (1 year)	Risk taking behavior not strongly associated with perceived personal risk of AIDS
			Very sure it will not happen; somewhat sure it will not happen; there is an even chance (50–50); somewhat sure it will happen; very sure it will happen
Prohaska	1990	1540 urban and suburban adults in Chicago	In terms of your own risk of getting AIDS do you think you are at … for getting AIDS?	Telephone interview	Yes (5 years)	None	Two sexual risk practices were congruent with perceived risk of AIDS
			Great; some; or no risk
Kalichman	1992	384 mass transit waiting areas in Chicago	What do you think your chances are of getting AIDS?	Anonymous paper survey	Yes	IDU (1 year)	Women at higher risk estimated that they were at greater risk for AIDS
			4 point scale ranging from: I will never get AIDS to I know I will get AIDS
Goldman	1993	602 men and women from University of Rhode Island	4 question composite score: I am currently at risk for AIDS; thought of getting AIDS does not worry me; I sometime suspect that I am exposed to AIDS; I have had intercourse with someone in the last 10 years who could have exposed me to AIDS	Written questionnaire	Yes	None	Perceived risk negatively related to AIDS preventive behavior
			Definitely false; probably false; probably true; definitely true
Klepinger	1993	3321 men 20–39 years old; national sample	Perceived personal HIV-infection risk:	Face-to-face interview	Yes (4 weeks)	Yes (4 weeks)	Weak association between perceptions of risk and HIV-related risk-behavior
			None; some; ≥50%
Kline	1993	242 women from drug treatment centers in 3 high HIV prevalence cities in northern New Jersey	How likely is it that you will become infected with AIDS in the next 12 months?	Face-to-face interview	Yes (4 weeks)	Yes	Congruence with drug use, but incongruence with sexual behavior
			4 point scale: Very unlikely; somewhat unlikely; somewhat likely; very likely
van der Velde	1994	1318 participants from 4 HIV risk stratified samples from Amsterdam	How do you estimate the chance that you will become infected with AIDS virus in the next 2 years?	Written questionnaire	Yes (4 months)	No	Modest correlation of perception of risk and previous sexual experiences in a high risk population
			Scale from 0–100% chance
Bosga	1995	165 homosexual men who practice unprotected anogenital intercourse with steady and non-steady partners	Not available	Not available	Not available	Not available	Majority of men who engage in risky behaviors within their primary relationship do not appraise their behaviors as risky
			Not available
Dolcini	1996	1770 men and women 18–44 years old living in San Francisco with high rates of STDs and drug use	How likely do you think it is that you will eventually get AIDS?	Face-to-face interview	Yes	No	Only having a sexual partner who was an IDU was associated with self-perceived risk
			1 = definitely not possible; 2 = very unlikely; 3 = somewhat unlikely; 4 = very worried or concerned
Fitchtner	1996	51,359 patients from 25 STD clinics in Illinois	Do you have any reason to be concerned that you may have been exposed to HIV from a sex or needle-sharing partner?	Face-to-face interview	Yes	Yes (lifetime)	65% with assessed risk did not perceive risk
			Yes or no
Steers	1996	424 undergraduates from 6 California schools	My chances of contracting HIV are low	Anonymous written questionnaire	Yesa	No	Perceived susceptibility predicted many safer-sex behaviors
			1 = strongly agree to 5 = strongly disagree
Brown	1998	140 random sample of IDUs attending methadone clinics and needle exchanges in New York City	If you do not know your HIV status or if you have tested negative, how would you rate your risk of acquiring HIV?	Face-to-face structured interview	Yesa	No	AIDS risk perception was not a significant predictor of condom use
			0 = none; 1 = small; 2 = moderate; 3 = large; 4 = great
Cummings	1999	142 African American low-income women; not considered high-risk	Are you worried about getting AIDS?	Semi-structured 1-on-1 interviews	Yes	No	Worried and non-worried women were equally likely to report risk behaviors
			Yes or no
Weinreb	1999	220 homeless and 216 low-income mothers living in Massachusetts	Do you perceive your HIV risk to be:	Multi-session interview format	Yes	Yes (2 years)	Among high-risk women 75% believed themselves to be a low- or no-risk for HIV
			Non-existent; low; medium; high
Stein	2000	1049 homeless, impoverished, minority, and/or IDU men and women in Los Angeles	1. I've already done plenty that could have exposed me to AIDS; 2. I've never done anything that could give me AIDS; 3. My chances of getting AIDS are great; 4. I don't think I'm at risk for AIDS; 5. Rating of chances of getting AIDS	Face-to-face interview	Yes	Yes	Composite score of perceived risk and IDU has congruency, but sexual risk does not
			Statements 1–4 scored 1–5: 1 = disagree strongly to 5 = agree strongly; 5th question scored 1 = no chance 4 = high chance
Maurier	2000	A range of 1204–1277 participants over five periods representative of Alberta	What do you think your choices are of getting HIV or AIDS?	Telephone interview	Yes (2 years)	Yes	Congruency between self-perceived risk and number or partners varied by survey and year
			1 = none; 2 = low; 3 = medium; 4 = high
Amadora-Nolasco	2001	360 registered and 360 freelance sex workers	Do you think you have a chance of getting HIV/AIDS or do you think there is a possibility for you to be infected?	Face-to-face interview	Yes (6 months)	No	For freelance sex workers associated perceived risk and number of sex partners and condom usage in selected populations
			Yes; no; don't know
Holtzman	2001	Random sample of 18- to 49-year-olds in the United States	Perceived risk of HIV infection:	Telephone interview	Yes	Yes (1 year)	Good agreement between measure of actual HIV risk and perceptions of risk
			High; medium; low; none
Schröder	2001	666 Black and 626 white single low-income women from OB/GYN clinic in the midwest	Own perceived risk of getting AIDS	Face-to-face interview	Yes (6 months)	No	Lack of risk perception correlated with lack of sexual protective behaviors
			1 = no risk; 2 = low risk; 3 = moderate risk; 4 = high risk
Klein	2003	250 urban economically disadvantaged women in Atlanta	What do you think your chances are of getting the AIDS virus?	Female interviewer; Face-to-face	Yes (90 days)	Yes (30 days)	Incongruency among lower-risk perception group
			No chance or at least some chance
Theall	2003	183 mostly African American women in Atlanta	What do you think are the chances of your getting the AIDS virus?	Female interviewer; Face-to-face	Yesa	Yes	Relationship between report and perceived risk with some incongruence
			0 = none; 1 = low; 2 = medium; 3 = high
Wood	2004	994 IDUs in Vancouver	Compared to other drug users in Vancouver, how likely do you think you are to get infected with HIV/AIDS?	Face-to-face interview	Yes (6 months)	Yes (6 months)	Inconsistent relationship between IDU behavior and risk-perception
			Much more likely; a bit more likely; about the same; less likely
Takahashi	2005	2911 sexually active adults 18–50 years old in Florida, Montana, Ohio, and South Dakota	What are your chances of getting infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS?	Telephone interview	Yes (1 year)	Yes (1 year)	Most individuals who report behaviors that increase their risk for HIV do not consider themselves to be at risk and have not been recently tested
			High; medium; low; none
Prata	2006	7817 sexually experienced 15- to 24-year-olds in Mozambique	Risk of HIV:	Household survey	Yes	No	27% of women and 80% of men with self-perceived no or small risk were actually at moderate or high risk
			None; small; moderate; high; or not known
Lapidus	2006	222 American Indians and Alaska Natives in 4 counties; Oregon or Washington State	Perceived risk of HIV infection:	Interview	Yes	Yes	44% reporting high-risk behaviors reported themselves at low or no risk of HIV
			High; medium; low; none; don't know
MacKellar	2007	2788 MSM in 6 US cities	Which number best describes how likely it is that you will become HIV+ today? Your lifetime?	Interviewed with a questionnaire	Yes	Yes	Although some congruency, a substantial proportion of those with risk behaviors perceived a low-risk for infection
			1 = very unlikely; 2 = unlikely; 3 = somewhat likely; 4 = likely; 5 = very likely
Cole	2008	529 women recruited from a domestic violence court	Which statement best describes your chance of getting HIV?	Interview; event calendar	Yes (1 year)	Yes	Congruence in some but not all risk behaviors
			0 = no chance; 1 = 50% chance; 2 = 75% chance

^aIndicates multiple time frames provided in the study for participants to report their behaviors.