Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care
FeatureAfrican American Women's Experience of Infection With HIV in the Rural Southeastern United States
Section snippets
Literature Review
Despite evidence that the rate of HIV infection among women has risen sharply in the rural south (“Southern women apparently face,” 2001), there remain a limited number of published studies related to prevention of HIV among African American women living in the rural south. A search of electronic databases for published research related to HIV and rural women showed that the areas currently receiving attention include treatment-related issues for those with HIV (Heckman and Carlson, 2007, Reif
Design
Grounded Theory methodology (Glaser, 1992) was used to construct descriptions from participants about how they came to be infected with HIV. Theoretical results from this study are reported elsewhere (Mallory, 2005). This article reports descriptive results as related by the participants. The study was reviewed by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, institutional review board for human rights protection.
Target Population
The target population was rural African American women who were infected with HIV
Results
Participants were between 30 and 64 years of age, had 1 to 11 children, had 10 to 15 years of education, and had limited incomes. Table 1 summarizes demographic data of the sample. All women identified themselves as Black or African American and heterosexual. Participants had been living with HIV from 3 to 14 years at the time of the interviews. All of the women identified their exposures as sexual contact with a man or men, some of whom were injection drug users or had been having sex with
Discussion
The results from this exploratory study, suggesting that a number of important factors influence sexual risk taking among African American women, require attention. Not the least of these factors are continuing pervasive assumptions that only those women engaging in multiple risk-taking behaviors are at risk for HIV infection. The majority of the women in this study contracted HIV while in a monogamous relationship with a man they trusted to protect them from harm. In many ways these women are,
Implications for Nursing Research
There is mounting evidence that sexual decision making among African American women is a complex process influenced by many factors. The current study calls into question the use of the monogamy model as a reasonable protection for rural African American women living in the southeast United States. Future research with this population needs to proceed in the direction of intervention development. To date, there are no published studies that specifically address intervention development for this
Caroline Mallory, PhD, RN, is an associate professor at Mennonite College of Nursing, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.
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Caroline Mallory, PhD, RN, is an associate professor at Mennonite College of Nursing, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois.