Informed decision making in the context of HIV prevention: an experience sampling study among men who have sex with men.

Objective: Individuals seeking HIV protection can choose from various strategies (e.g. condoms, PrEP). Thus, individuals may engage in informed decision making, balancing risks and benefits with their values. This study examines how different levels of informed decision making affect the relationship between individuals' momentary prioritization of HIV safety and the perceived safety of their choices. Additionally, it investigates the relationship between informed decision-making levels and choice variability.

Methods And Measures: 105 participants (104 cisgender men, 1 intersex man) provided safety evaluations for different sexual scenarios involving various HIV prevention strategies. Over six biweekly follow-ups, implemented strategies were reported and matched with safety evaluations, while assessing informed decision-making levels, impulsivity, and personal priority of safety.

Results: Higher levels of informed decision making were associated with a weaker positive relationship between momentary prioritization of HIV safety and perceived safety of the chosen strategy, suggesting that perceived safety was less dependent on momentary prioritization of HIV safety. Further, informed decision-making levels were not associated with choice variability.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that informed HIV prevention decisions are associated with higher perceived safety and act compensatory towards low personal safety prioritizations. This highlights the importance of supporting informed HIV prevention decisions.