Rebooting resilience: shifts toward dynamic, multi-level, and technology-based approaches for people living with HIV

Abstract

Resilience research has often been characterized by a static conceptualization of resilience that focuses on individual-level factors that help people living with HIV (PLHIV) adapt to HIV-related challenges and overcome other life adversities. Early conceptualizations often depicted resilience as a static, stable construct, with limited attention paid to the social context and broader systems that may foster or discourage resilient adaptation across time and place. This special issue seeks to challenge these conventional views by highlighting innovative HIV resilience research across the globe. Far from ignoring socio-cultural contexts, studies presented in this issue directly address systemic stigma and discrimination against PLHIV, as well as sexual and gender minority individuals, and identify unique opportunities to promote resilience through building strong "villages" (i.e., social networks), reducing structural inequities, and enhancing HIV treatment and care systems. In addition, papers included in this issue address the promise and challenges of utilizing mobile Heath (mHealth) technology to build resilience for PLHIV through improving psychosocial and clinical outcomes.

Protective Factors That Foster Resilience to HIV/AIDS: Insights and Lived Experiences of Older Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men

“…Recent empirical studies have been conducted to help identify and explore unique opportunities to foster resilience to HIV/AIDS by building strong "villages" (i.e., social networks), reducing structural inequities, and enhancing HIV treatment and care systems in collaboration with community stakeholders [17], including opportunities that were sustained with the support of different AIDS service organizations (ASOs) and other community-based agencies [18][19][20][21][22]. ASOs have been actively involved in studies investigating broad multisectoral interventions that address income, housing, substance use, and mental health issues [18]; underscore the crucial role of non-medical, community-based workers in providing services to gbMSM in the HIV care continuum [20]; and highlight the peer support, community leadership, advocacy, and active participation of gbMSM, which have all been central to the HIV response since the epidemic began [19,22].…”

La salud desde la perspectiva de la resiliencia

“…En relación con el SIDA, Harrison and Li (2018) [45] analizan los factores asociados con la resiliencia entre niños y adolescentes afectados o que viven con el SIDA, igualmente proponen intervenciones innovadoras para desarrollar la resiliencia entre jóvenes con SIDA, como un juego de teléfonos inteligentes móviles para mejorar la adherencia entre los jóvenes con esta afectación en salud, que conviven en EEUU.…”

Forging Resilience to HIV/AIDS: Personal Strengths of Middle-aged and Older Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men Living With HIV/AIDS

“…The majority of previous research conducted on resilience to HIV/AIDS in the past decade has historically utilized quantitative studies that employed frameworks, surveys, scales, and general measures to approximate the concept of resilience to HIV/AIDS, which were neither customized for the context nor established with the perspectives and direct input of PLWH (Dulin et al, 2018;Emlet et al 2013;Gottert et al, 2019). Notably, several research studies on resilience to HIV/AIDS that were conducted in the last 10 years have not exclusively focused on factors nor generated findings specific to individual attributes that PLWH possessed or mustered, but instead have examined and documented the importance of external factors to forging resilience to HIV/AIDS such as social support from family and friends, improved access to HIV treatment and care, and increased use of health services in the community (Emlet et al, 2013;Green & Wheeler, 2019;Harper et al, 2014;Harrison & Li, 2018;Liboro et al, 2021;Owens et al 2021).…”