Appraisal of risks and benefits in HIV cure studies and the role of altruism

Participation in HIV cure studies carries a set of wide-ranging risks and negligible (if any) direct medical benefits. The imbalanced risks/benefits ratio requires investigation into how individuals understand risks and benefit information, and why they (who are otherwise healthy and virally suppressed) consent to participate in HIV cure studies. We will apply the Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT), a medical decision-making model, to alter how the risks and benefits of an HIV cure study are framed. The aims are to test whether a willingness to participate in a hypothetical HIV cure study is influenced by the framing of the risks and benefits (using the FTT), and whether altruism moderates the effect of framing. We hypothesized that framing of the risks and benefits and reliance on altruism can implicitly influence the decision/willingness to participate. We hope to provide empirically-derived recommendations for framing the risks and benefits for participation in HIV cure research.