An Exploratory Study of Resilience, HIV-Related Stigma, and HIV Care Outcomes Among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) Living with HIV in Louisiana

We examined resilience within the context of HIV related stigma among MSM living with HIV in Louisiana with a particular interest in how resilience may be more relevant for Black MSM. We utilized Pearson ’s correlations and layered chi-square non-parametric tests to examine associations and racial differences in resilience, four HIV-related stigma measures/consequences (i.e., anticipated, internalized, enacted, and consequences of enacted HIV stigma), and HIV care outcomes (i.e., length of time si nce last HIV care visit, time since last HIV lab result, most recent HIV viral load result) among 110 MSM living with HIV in Louisiana who participated in the Louisiana HIV Stigma Index Project. The majority of MSM participants were Black (75%), lived in New Orleans (52%), and reported limited educa tion (52%) and income (76%). MSM who reported higher levels of enacted HIV stigma, consequences of enacted HIV stigma, and internalized HIV stigma reported poorer HIV care outcomes. Both internalized and anticipated HIV stigma significantly negatively impacted Black MSM perceptions of their overall health compared with White MSM. Compared with White MSM, Black MSM who reported greater consequences of enacted HIV stigma had poorer HIV care outcomes. Resilience was associated with positive HIV care outcomes for both Black and White MSM. However, having higher levels of resilience may have been m ore protective for Black MSM such that higher levels of resilience were associated with less ...
Source: AIDS and Behavior - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research