In the nearly two decades since the HIV pandemic began, the rapid expansion of behavioral research on HIV prevention has prompted a crucial need for a sourcebook more advanced than an introductory textbook and broader and more readily accessible than a review periodical. The Handbook of HIV Prevention is intended as the first attempt to meet this need. The current state of affairs led us to edit a book that would represent the major areas of HIV behavioral research at a level appropriate for graduate students and experienced researchers in public health, medicine, nursing, education, and the...

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the theories, methods and approaches for reducing HIV-associated risk behaviors. It represents the first single source of information about HIV prevention research in developed and developing countries. It will be an important resource for students, researchers and clinicians in the field.

Public health has a legacy of neglect regarding social and behavioral research. Too often, prompted by technical and scientific progress, we have ignored- even marginalized-the vital "human element" in health thinking and prac- tice. Thus, for example, while family planning programs focused on providing a choice among safe and effective contraceptive methods (a supremely worthy goal), the central issue of sexuality and sexual behavior was generally neglected. Similarly, the enormous and important efforts to develop rapid and reliable diagnostic and treatment methods for sexually transmitted...