HIV This Week

Bailey A, Hutter I. Cultural heuristics in risk assessment of HIV. Cult Health Sex 2006;8:465-77.

Behaviour change models in HIV prevention tend to consider that risky sexual behaviours reflect risk assessments and that by changing risk assessments behaviour can be changed. Risk assessment is however culturally constructed. Individuals use heuristics or bounded cognitive devices derived from broader cultural meaning systems to rationalize uncertainty. In this study Bailey and Hutter identified some of the cultural heuristics used by migrant men in Goa, India to assess their risk of HIV infection from different sexual partners. Data derives from a series of in-depth interviews and a locally informed survey. Cultural heuristics identified include visual heuristics, heuristics of gender roles, vigilance and trust. The paper argues that, for more culturally informed HIV behaviour change interventions, knowledge of cultural heuristics is essential.

Editors’ note: Heuristics (a good word to impress your friends with, pronounced ‘hyu-RIS-tik’, from the Greek ‘heuriskein’ meaning ‘to discover’) are basically rules of thumb. We clearly need to know more about the specific heuristics used by people to guide their risk assessments – yet another reason for engaging people in programme design rather than ‘intervening’.