Start | Browse by Day | Author Index | Keyword Index

Protective and Risk Factors for HIV Infection for Mexican-American Gay Men

Tuesday, 8 July 2008: 3:15 PM
Mark Meyer, MSN , School of Nursing, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX
Jane Dimmitt Champion, PhD, FNP, CS, FAAN , Department of Family Nursing Care/OB/GYN, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX

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.

Objective: Latinos, particularly Mexican-American are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of Mexican-American gay men regarding what it was like to grow up as a Mexican-American gay male. The study focused on protective and risk factors for HIV infection, in the hope that information drawn from the research may later be used to develop culturally sensitive interventions targeted towards 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.

See more of: HIV/AIDS Reports and Projects in the Adult Population
See more of: Research Sessions – Oral Paper & Posters