HIV/AIDS incidence is increasing more quickly among women than any other segment of the population. The typical woman with HIV/AIDS is young, in her late 20s, economically challenged, and of childbearing age. Adherence to HIV therapies is critical if patients are to achieve and maintain virologic suppression. The author recruited HIV/AIDS-infected African American women from an outpatient clinic to investigate the women's perceptions of social support and how it affected their medication adherence. She collected data through tape-recorded interviews using a semistructured guide and journaling over a 2-week period. Facilitators of adherence included supportive family members and having young children. Barriers to adherence included perceived stigma, feeling unloved or uncared for, relationship turbulence, and having a husband who was also HIV positive. Although participants reported being "fairly" satisfied with the quality of support they received, emotional support and often instrumental support were most desired and wanted.

Synopsis Despite the paucity of population-based research on the health status and health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, there is evidence of health disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual populations. Although the focus of LGBT health research has been HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infection among men who have sex with men, there is some documentation of health disparities among sexual minority women, with sexual minority women reporting poorer mental and physical health, in addition to less access to and less health care utilization. Using the minority stress framework, these disparities may be due in part to individual prejudice, social stigma and discrimination. To ensure equitable health for all, there is urgent need for targeted culturally sensitive health promotion, cultural sensitivity training for healthcare providers and intervention focused research.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) disproportionately burdens African American youth and young adults. In studies conducted in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) settings, African American youth generally perceive themselves as having a low risk of contracting HIV and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) despite having higher rates of unprotected sexual encounters, multiple sex partners, and particularly low rates of HIV testing and awareness of HIV status. These findings position HBCUs in a pivotal role for theory-based research and practice to modify behaviors in order to decrease HIV acquisition risk. Get Students Mobilized and Retooled to Transform (SMART) is an interventional research project in an urban HBCU in a northeastern metropolitan area in the US. The project is designed to assess and then address irresponsible behavior among students on college campuses that leads to illicit drug use, excessive alcohol consumption and underage drinking, and risky sexual behaviors that increase the likelihood of acquiring HIV and STDs. As gender plays a critical role in interventions, this article explores gender similarities and differences to inform the planning and implementation of Get SMART and any subsequent projects that address substance and alcohol use and HIV in an HBCU setting. Survey research was conducted to find similar and different factors that may be valuable in implementing and tailoring evidence-based interventions in a predominantly African American campus setting. Survey results revealed that more young adult women consume alcohol and use marijuana than young adult men. Young adult men were also more likely to be tested for HIV when compared to young adult women.

Disclosure of HIV status to potential and current sex partners by HIV-positive people (HIVPP) is a complex issue that has received a significant amount of attention. Research has found that disclosure depends upon the evaluation by HIVPP of potential benefits and risks, especially of the risks stemming from the profound social stigma of HIV and AIDS. Drawing on concepts from Goffman’s classic stigma theory and Anderson’s more recently developed cultural-identity theory of drug abuse, we analyzed data from in-depth, post-intervention qualitative interviews with 116 heterosexually active, HIV-positive injection drug users enrolled in a randomized trial of a behavioral intervention to prevent HIV transmission. We explored how disclosure experiences lead to “identity impacts” defined as: (1) identity challenges (i.e. interactions that challenge an individual’s self-concept as a “normal” or non-deviant individual); and (2) identity transformations (i.e. processes whereby an individual comes to embrace a new identity and reject behaviors and values of an old one, resulting in the conscious adoption of a social and/or public identity as an HIV-positive individual). Participants engaged in several strategies to manage the identity impacts associated with disclosure. Implications of these findings for research and prevention programming are discussed.