Belief of vaccine receipt in HIV vaccine trials: Further cautions

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine relationships betw een belief in vaccine receipt, motivations for trial participation, and sid e effects in phase I vaccine trials. Anonymous questionnaires were complete d by 125 active vaccine volunteers at two vaccine evaluation sites. Partici pants believing they had received the vaccine reported more side effects (p < .01), were less likely to report knowing someone with HIV/AIDS as a moti vation for trial participation (p < .01), and endorsed greater concern abou t becoming HN-infected as motivation for participation (p < .05). Results i ndicate that inferences made by trial participants in vaccine trials should be identified and addressed, and that greater efforts for maintaining the blinded nature of vaccine trials and educating trial participants about the meaning of side effects are warranted.