| Learning Objective #1: describe the lived experience of Mexican-American gay men regarding what it was like to grow up as a Mexican-American gay man. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: describe HIV risk and protective factors for Mexican-American gay men. |
Methods: Mexican-American gay men 30 to 60 years of age who are living in Dallas, Texas. A phenomenological approach was utilized, including semi-structured interviews with open-ended probes. Van Manen's method of interpretive phenomenology and data analysis guided the data analysis.
Results: Identified patterns included: 1) Accepting, 2) Machismo, 3) Loving, 4) Respecting, 5) Dating, 6) Being HIV negative and 6) Being HIV positive. Within each of these patterns, themes were identified: 1) Accepting: (a) accepting one's sexuality and (b) hiding related to shame and oppression, 2) Machismo: (a) protector and (b) hypermasculinity, 3) Loving: (a) being in love and (b) loneliness, 4) Respecting: (a) family, (b) self and (c) life, 5) Dating: (a) using protection and (b) taking risk, 6) Being HIV negative: (a) taking risk, 7) Being HIV positive: (a) living then - taking risk and (b) living now - using protection and (b) living now - taking risk.
Conclusions: Themes identified as protective or risk factors for HIV infection may promote development of effective HIV preventive interventions geared towards Mexican-American gay men.