Paper
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Lifetime Abuse and HIV Risks among Hispanic Women in the U.S
Nilda (Nena) Peragallo, RN, DrPH, FAAN1, Rosa Maria Gonzalez, RN, MSN, MPH2, and Elias Vasquez, PhD, NP, FAAN1. (1) School of Nursing, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA, (2) Interdepartmental Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| Learning Objective #1: identify factors associated with HIV risks among Hispanic women in the U.S. |
| Learning Objective #2: describe the relationship between lifetime abuse and HIV risks among Hispanic women in the U.S. |
Background- Hispanic females have been found to be disproportionately affected by both lifetime abuse and HIV risks. Research suggests that Hispanic children and female adults are disproportionately at risk for the occurrence and consequences of family perpetrated maltreatment when compared to non-Hispanic Whites and other ethnic minority groups (Caetano, Field, Ramisetty-Mikler, McGrath, 2005; Elliot, Cunningham, Linder, Colanger & Gross, 2005; Katerndahl, Burge, Kellogg & Parra, 2005). Hispanic women are also overrepresented in new HIV/AIDS cases and deaths. In fact, while HIV/AIDS is the ninth leading cause of death for White women between the ages of 35 to 44, it is the fourth leading cause of death among Latinas within this same age category (CDC, 2006). Although violence against women has been identified as both a risk factor for and consequence of HIV/AIDS (WHO, 2002), the relationship between lifetime abuse and HIV risks among Hispanic females in the U.S. has not been well described.
Purpose- To explore the relationship between lifetime abuse and HIV risks among Hispanic Women in the U.S.
Methods- Questionnaires were administered to 82 adult Hispanic females via face to face interviews. HIV risk behaviors and violence victimization were assessed using a partner table (Peragallo & Gonzalez, 2006), The Psychoactive Drug History Questionnaire (Sobell & Sobell, 1990), the TWEAK (Cyr & McGarry, 2002), the PMWI-F (Short Version) (Tolman, 1995) and a physical, sexual and psychological violence history.
Analysis- Simple multiple regression, Pearsonīs product moment correlation and Logistic Regression will be used to describe the relationship between lifetime abuse and HIV risks.
Results- To be determined.
Conclusions- The conclusions of this study could be used to develop more effective, comprehensive HIV and violence prevention programs and policies targeting Latinos in the U.S.