{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T19:06:14Z","timestamp":1782846374990,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JMIR Form Res"],"abstract":"Abstract<\/jats:title>\n \n Background<\/jats:title>\n Investigation of community awareness of HIV functional cure has often been restricted to people living with HIV. An understanding of the attitudes of men who have sex with men (MSM) without HIV is important, as it contributes to the supportiveness of curative treatment in the community.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Objective<\/jats:title>\n This study aimed to profile the attitudes toward HIV functional cure among MSM without HIV.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n This is a secondary analysis of data from a community-based survey on MSM 18 years or older in Hong Kong. MSM who self-reported being HIV negative were recruited for enrollment in the study. To understand the diversity of beliefs and their association with attitudes toward functional cure, attributes under the health belief model constructs were used for delineation of the study population by latent class analysis. Factors, including identified latent class analysis, associated with each outcome variable, including awareness, high anticipation, and trial participation willingness, were examined in bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n A total of 712 MSM were recruited between September 2021 and October 2022, a majority of whom were Chinese, single, and employed. In 541 (76%) MSM who self-reported not having tested positive for HIV, 43% (n=233) were aware of and 44% (n=236) held high anticipation toward functional cure, while 84% (n=452) indicated willingness to join clinical trials. Trial participation willingness and high anticipation were associated with indicators of higher risk sexual behavior. Four latent classes were identified. Compared with the reference group of class 4 (considered nontransmissibility as the main benefit, n=301, 56%), MSM in class 1 (selection of all perceived benefits, n=40, 7%) and class 2 (considered safety, trial duration, sites as most important, n=82, 15%) had significantly higher anticipation of functional cure, while those from class 2 were less likely to be aware of functional cure, and those from class 3 (no selection of reasons for joining trials, n=118, 22%) were less willing to participate in a trial.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n In Hong Kong, compared with MSM living with HIV, MSM without HIV had similar awareness and trial participation willingness but lower anticipation of functional cure, probably due to lower susceptibility to HIV infection. As community awareness and understanding of the functional cure concept take time to nourish, these have to be nurtured in advance while the development of the functional cure is in progress.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/79631","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T20:21:29Z","timestamp":1771532489000},"page":"e79631-e79631","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Attitudes of Men Who Have Sex With Men Toward HIV Functional Cure: Community-Based Study"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3788-8114","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ngai Sze","family":"Wong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9047-7966","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sze Long","family":"Chung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2855-5038","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tsz Ho","family":"Kwan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1448-765X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shui Shan","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1010","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1038\/s41577-018-0085-4","article-title":"Functional cure of HIV: the scale of the challenge","volume":"19","author":"Davenport","journal-title":"Nat Rev Immunol"},{"key":"R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1155\/arat\/6829446","article-title":"Advances in HIV treatment and vaccine development: emerging therapies and breakthrough strategies for long-term control","volume":"2025","author":"Okesanya","journal-title":"AIDS Res Treat"},{"issue":"11","key":"R3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1227","DOI":"10.1080\/14787210.2023.2273919","article-title":"Clinical trials aimed at HIV cure or remission: new pathways and lessons learned","volume":"21","author":"Schou","journal-title":"Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther"},{"issue":"2","key":"R4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1111\/hiv.12391","article-title":"A global survey of HIV-positive people\u2019s attitudes towards cure research","volume":"18","author":"Simmons","journal-title":"HIV Med"},{"issue":"1","key":"R5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-022-07346-x","article-title":"Awareness of HIV functional cure and willingness in participating in related clinical trials: comparison between antiretroviral na\u00efve and experienced men who have sex with men living with HIV","volume":"22","author":"Kwan","journal-title":"BMC Infect Dis"},{"issue":"1","key":"R6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jve.2022.100066","article-title":"The perceived impact of an HIV cure by people living with HIV and key populations vulnerable to HIV in the Netherlands: a qualitative study","volume":"8","author":"Romijnders","journal-title":"J Virus Erad"},{"issue":"8","key":"R7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0202647","article-title":"Perceptions of HIV cure research among people living with HIV in Australia","volume":"13","author":"Power","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"},{"key":"R8","unstructured":"Full report \u2014 in danger: UNAIDS global AIDS update 2022. UNAIDS. Jul 27, 2022. URL: https:\/\/www.unaids.org\/en\/resources\/documents\/2022\/in-danger-global-aids-update [Accessed 20-12-2023]"},{"issue":"3","key":"R9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2019-054139","article-title":"Patterns of sexualised recreational drug use and its association with risk behaviours and sexual health outcomes in men who have sex with men in London, UK: a comparison of cross-sectional studies conducted in 2013 and 2016","volume":"96","author":"Curtis","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"issue":"3","key":"R10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/13083","article-title":"Bridging awareness and acceptance of pre-exposure prophylaxis among men who have sex with men and the need for targeting chemsex and HIV testing: cross-sectional survey","volume":"5","author":"Kwan","journal-title":"JMIR Public Health Surveill"},{"issue":"sup1","key":"R11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1080\/09540121.2024.2307381","article-title":"Engagement of HIV-negative MSM and partners of people with HIV in HIV cure (research): exploring the influence of perceived severity, susceptibility, benefits, and concerns","volume":"36","author":"Noorman","journal-title":"AIDS Care"},{"issue":"1","key":"R12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1089\/AID.2017.0188","article-title":"What would an HIV cure mean to you? Qualitative analysis from a crowdsourcing contest in Guangzhou, China","volume":"34","author":"Zhang","journal-title":"AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses"},{"issue":"4","key":"R13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jve.2024.100570","article-title":"Relatively high interest but limited active engagement in HIV cure research: awareness, interest, and information-seeking among affected communities in the Netherlands","volume":"10","author":"Noorman","journal-title":"J Virus Erad"},{"issue":"11","key":"R14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3789","DOI":"10.1007\/s10461-023-04095-z","article-title":"The importance of social engagement in the development of an HIV cure: a systematic review of stakeholder perspectives","volume":"27","author":"Noorman","journal-title":"AIDS Behav"},{"key":"R15","unstructured":"PRiSMTG \u2013 HIV prevalence and risk behavioural survey of men who have sex with men in Hong Kong 2022. Special Preventive Programme, Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR Government; Dec 2024. URL: https:\/\/www.aids.gov.hk\/english\/surveillance\/sur_report\/PRiSMTG2022_MSM_EN.pdf [Accessed 24-01-2026]"},{"key":"R16","unstructured":"Hong Kong HIV & STI update. HIV Surveillance Office, Special Preventive Programme, Department of Health, Hong Kong SAR Government; 2025. URL: https:\/\/www.aids.gov.hk\/english\/surveillance\/stdaids\/vol31_1.pdf [Accessed 24-01-2026]"},{"issue":"2","key":"R17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"491","DOI":"10.1007\/s15010-023-02107-7","article-title":"Self-sampled multi-anatomic site testing for uncovering the community burden of undiagnosed Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection in men who have sex with men","volume":"52","author":"Wong","journal-title":"Infection"},{"key":"R18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bauer J . Methods for researching professional learning and development. In: Goller M Kyndt E Paloniemi S Dam\u015fa C , editors. A Primer to Latent Profile and Latent Class Analysis. Springer; 2022:243-268. [doi: 10.1007\/978-3-031-08518-5_11]","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-08518-5_11"},{"key":"R19","unstructured":"Alyafei A Easton-Carr R . The health belief model of behavior change. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; 2024. URL: https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK606120\/ [Accessed 24-01-2026]"},{"issue":"4","key":"R20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1177\/0095798420930932","article-title":"Latent class analysis: a guide to best practice","volume":"46","author":"Weller","journal-title":"J Black Psychol"},{"key":"R21","unstructured":"Recommended HIV\/AIDS strategies for Hong Kong (2022-2027). Hong Kong Advisory Council on AIDS; Nov 2022. URL: https:\/\/www.aca.gov.hk\/english\/strategies\/pdf\/strategies22-27.pdf [Accessed 24-01-2026]"},{"issue":"3","key":"R22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1111\/hiv.12990","article-title":"Low awareness of and willingness to use PrEP in the Chinese YMSM: an alert in YMSM HIV prevention","volume":"22","author":"Cui","journal-title":"HIV Med"},{"issue":"8","key":"R23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"400","DOI":"10.1089\/AID.2022.0036","article-title":"\u201cI would absolutely need to know that my partner is still going to be protected\u201d: Perceptions of HIV cure-related research among diverse HIV serodifferent couples in the United States","volume":"39","author":"Dub\u00e9","journal-title":"AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses"},{"issue":"3","key":"R24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1097\/QAI.0000000000002239","article-title":"Growing acceptability of undetectable = untransmittable but widespread misunderstanding of transmission risk: findings from a very large sample of sexual minority men in the United States","volume":"83","author":"Rendina","journal-title":"J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr"},{"issue":"2","key":"R25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jve.2022.100072","article-title":"Perceptions of HIV cure and willingness to participate in HIV cure-related trials among people enrolled in the Netherlands cohort study on acute HIV infection","volume":"8","author":"van Paassen","journal-title":"J Virus Erad"},{"issue":"11","key":"R26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0206656","article-title":"Reported willingness to participate in a hypothetical HIV vaccine trial and its translation to actual participation among healthy adults-Experience from Kenya","volume":"13","author":"Nyasani","journal-title":"PLoS ONE"}],"container-title":["JMIR Formative Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/formative.jmir.org\/2026\/1\/e79631","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T18:12:46Z","timestamp":1782843166000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/formative.jmir.org\/2026\/1\/e79631"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]]},"references-count":26,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2196\/79631","relation":{},"ISSN":["2561-326X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2561-326X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]]},"article-number":"v10i1e79631"}}