Social Support, Stress and Social Network Characteristics Among HIV-Positive Latino and African American Women and Men Who have Sex with Men

Abstract

Social support and stress have been poorly characterized for persons with HIV, particularly for racial/ethnic minorities. To address this gap, data on general and HIV-specific support and stress and social network characteristics were collected for 399 African American and Latino women and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Los Angeles County. African American (mean = 41; SD = 17) and Latina (mean = 40; SD = 19) women reported the highest general support. Stress was also highest for Latina women (mean = 18; SD = 11) and higher compared to Latino and African American MSM. African American and Latina women reported receiving most of their social support and stress from family members, while African American and Latino MSM received their support and stress from friends and providers. Finally, Latina and African American women disclosed their HIV status to more network members and received more HIV-specific support compared to MSM. Interventions are needed to help Latino and African American MSM enhance their support networks to manage a stigmatized illness.

Do Social Support, Stress, Disclosure and Stigma Influence Retention in HIV Care for Latino and African American Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women?

“…Our stress/ retention in care finding is consistent with a study of a general rural primary health care clinic population in which high self-reported family stress was associated with medical follow-up, referrals and/or hospitalization, and high severity of illness while controlling for support, age, gender and race [4]. The data from the current study and our prior analysis suggest that African American MSM may be more likely to rely on support from providers and seek HIV care in part to cope with the stress they experience from their social network members [18] or it is possible that ''positive nagging'' by social network members to take care of an illness results in more care visits. The lack of an association between the SRSQ general and HIV-specific support measures and retention in care is an unexpected finding.…”

“…In contrast, our data suggest that African American MSM may adhere to their HIV care visits in part due to the support received from their HIV provider that includes a positive social interaction that they may not experience in other domains of their lives [6]. In fact, in a previous report on these data, African American MSM reported the highest HIV-specific support scores from their providers compared to family, friends, and others as well as relatively high satisfaction with the support received from providers [18]. Our stress/ retention in care finding is consistent with a study of a general rural primary health care clinic population in which high self-reported family stress was associated with medical follow-up, referrals and/or hospitalization, and high severity of illness while controlling for support, age, gender and race [4].…”

“…In a cross-sectional study of HIV patients, a positive association was found between social support and antiretroviral use, but only among those who had disclosed their HIV status [9]. HIV disclosure patterns can also vary by gender, race/ethnicity and HIV risk group, and an earlier analysis found that Latina and African American women disclosed their HIV status to more network members than Latino and African American MSM [18]. In addition, a study of Latino MSM found higher rates of HIV disclosure to main partners and friends and lower disclosure rates to parents [16].…”

Social networks of HIV-positive women and their association with social support and depression symptoms

“…Both of these results demonstrated the importance of instrumental support to a woman's sense of being supported, either by family (when bedridden) or friends (with housework). Other researchers have found that the value and type of relationships with network members may be associated more with support than the number of network members (Reich et al 2010;Rock Wohl et al 2010). An increase in the number of individuals who made participants feel loved was associated with less fear of disclosure.…”

Social Stressors and Alcohol Use Among Immigrant Sexual and Gender Minority Latinos in a Nontraditional Settlement State

“…There is substantial evidence of its beneficial effects for a wide variety of health outcomes (Gottlieb & Bergen, 2010; Heaney & Israel, 2008), and the field of public health now recognizes social support as an important determinant of health, particularly as it may interact with other social characteristics such as socio-economic position and social integration (Grundy & Sloggett, 2003; Stansfeld, 2006; Weyers et al, 2008). Social support may buffer some of the disadvantages faced by sexual and gender minority Latinos; however, research to-date has largely been restricted to HIV-related topics (Carlos et al, 2010; Fekete et al, 2009; Wohl et al, 2010; Zea, Reisen, Poppen, Bianchi, & Echeverry, 2005). This reflects the preponderance of research on sexual behavior and relatively scant attention to the relationship between social support and other risky behaviors, including substance use, among this sub-group of Latinos.…”