The HIV Anxiety Scale (HAS): developing and validating a measure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) anxiety

Cahill, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7897-0862, Gifford, AJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8337-9951, Jones, BA ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8872-5847 and McDermott, DT ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-6446, 2025. The HIV Anxiety Scale (HAS): developing and validating a measure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) anxiety. AIDS and Behavior, 29 (7), pp. 2258-2271. ISSN 1090-7165

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Abstract

Most research assessing HIV anxiety relies on single-item measures or psychometric measures that are outdated in terms of concepts and language. There is a critical need for a robust, reliable, and contemporary measure to identify populations at risk of avoiding HIV testing, treatment, and prevention, thereby supporting global HIV eradication goals. Focus groups informed the initial development of the HIV Anxiety Scale (HAS), revised through expert feedback. The factor structure was assessed in two studies. In Study 1, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted with 251 participants. In Study 2, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 200 participants was performed alongside validity, internal consistency, and measurement invariance assessments. Studies 1 and 2 elicited a 3-factor model, resulting in a 16-item measure with the following subscales: Psychosocial Implications of HIV, Lifestyle Implications of HIV, and HIV Testing Anxiety. The HAS demonstrated a good factor structure, acceptable validity and excellent internal consistency across diverse groups in Study 2. The HAS provides a contemporary, robust measure of HIV anxiety, addressing limitations of previous tools and contributing to efforts to identify and support populations at risk of HIV avoidance behaviours. We recommend that future research continue to validate and test this new measure, but it in its current form offers a standardised tool to inform targeted interventions for HIV testing, prevention, and treatment.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	AIDS and Behavior
Creators:	Cahill, L., Gifford, A.J., Jones, B.A. and McDermott, D.T.
Publisher:	Springer (part of Springer Nature)
Date:	July 2025
Volume:	29
Number:	7
ISSN:	1090-7165
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s10461-025-04690-2 DOI 2416783 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	28 Mar 2025 12:01
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2026 10:18
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53320

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