History of Traumatic Events in HIV-Positive Individuals: Risk Behavior Implications in an Urban Clinic Setting

Abstract

As HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect African American communities, the need for culturally appropriate, tailored interventions for this clientele is growing. Although prevention efforts often include information about individual coping and mental health, not all programs address the role of traumatic events, including community violence in relation to HIV risk. The authors implemented the Treatment Advocacy Program-Sinai with HIV-positive individuals at a large urban hospital. After controlling for demographics and other psychosocial factors, they found that a history of traumatic events—domestic, sexual, and community violence—were associated with sexual risk behavior for men and women in our sample; however, community violence was overwhelming associated with sexual risk for women. Based on the prevalence of violence and the relationship with sexual risk, they discuss implications for prevention interventions in urban clinic settings.

KEYWORDS:

• African Americans
• HIV prevention
• HIV-related risk behaviors
• intimate partner violence
• violence
• violence exposure

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank the Drs. Janet Myers and Kimberly Koester at the Center for AIDS Prevention and Studies, University of California San Francisco, for their helpful feedback on the article.