scholarly journals Sero-risk neutral and sero-risk averse: perceptions of risk and condom use among Black African heterosexual migrant couples in serodiscordant relationships in the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (13) ◽  
pp. 1291-1299
Author(s):  
Mohamed K Rogers ◽  
Eamonn McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Condom Use ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Heterosexual Couples ◽  
Black African ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Phenomenological Reflection ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Hiv Negative

This paper explores how perceptions of risk of infecting HIV-negative partners influence condom use among Black African heterosexual couples in stable relationships with one partner living with HIV (serodiscordant relationships). Twenty-five in-depth couple and individual interviews were analysed through phenomenological reflection and writing. A major finding was that in attempts to preserve their relationships, couples debated condom use strategies based on their perceptions of risk of infecting HIV-negative partners. We recommend that HIV prevention information among Black African heterosexual couples with a partner living with HIV should be understood from the perceptions of risk from both partners.

Effectiveness of a prevention program for immigrant Latino men who have sex with men in Canada: Results of a pilot study

2021 ◽  
pp. e20200054
Author(s):  
Beatriz E. Alvarado ◽  
Jorge Luis Martinez-Cajas ◽  
Barry D. Adam ◽  
Trevor Hart
Keyword(s):  
Condom Use ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Individual Counseling ◽  
Latino Men ◽  
Behavioral Skills ◽  
Counseling Intervention ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Hiv Negative

This study piloted the GPS (Gay-Positive Sex) Latino program for men who have sex with men (MSM) who immigrated to Canada. GPS Latino is an individual counseling intervention program that involves the provision of information, motivational interviewing, and behavioral skills building to reduce risk behaviors associated with HIV and STI transmission. We designed a pre-post study without control to assess the effects of GPS Latino on depression, loneliness, the self-efficacy of condom use negotiation, and condomless anal sex (CAS). During the study, one HIV-positive peer counselor administered six 2-hour counseling sessions to 11 participants living with HIV and 10 HIV-negative MSM Latino living in Toronto, Canada. A paired t-test and a McNemar test were employed to assess the effects of GPS Latino twelve months after the start of the intervention. Our study shows a reduction in CAS (any partner) from 90% at the baseline to 62% at the 12-month follow-up (p = 0.06). The findings also indicate an increase from 19.2 to 21.5 (p = 0.01) in self-efficacy of negotiating condom use in HIV-negative participants. As a peer-led counseling intervention, GPS Latino may offer an efficient way of concurrently reducing CAS, and increasing condom use negotiation in immigrant Latino men who have sex with men.

scholarly journals Risk time framing for wellbeing in older people: a multi-national appreciative inquiry

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Charlotte Laura Clarke ◽  
Mike Titterton ◽  
Jane Wilcockson ◽  
Jane Reed ◽  
Wendy Moyle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Appreciative Inquiry ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Time Horizons ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Societal Responsibility

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of older people and their sense of developing wellbeing, including consideration of the strategies they employ to respond to perceived risk. Design/methodology/approach An Appreciative Inquiry study was used, which collected data with 58 participants in focus group and individual interviews. Interviews focussed on ways in which older people in South Africa, Australia, Germany and the UK understand and seek to maintain wellbeing. Findings The changing time horizons of older people lead to perceptions of risk and concerns that embrace societal as well as individual concerns. Often, this leads to a sense of societal responsibility and desire for social change, which is frustrated by a perceived exclusion from participation in society. Social implications In mental health practice and education, it is imperative to embrace the shift from ageist concerns (with later life viewed as risky and tragic in itself) towards a greater sensitivity for older people’s resilience, the strategies they deploy to maintain this, and their desire for more control and respect for their potential to contribute to society. Originality/value Variation in time horizons leads to changes in temporal accounting, which may be under-utilised by society. Consequently, societies may not recognise and support the resilience of older people to the detriment of older people as individuals and to the wider society.

scholarly journals Does HIV impact susceptibility to COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and pathology? A review of the current literature

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elnara Aghakishiyeva ◽  
Derek Macallan
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Relative Risks ◽  
Confounding Variables ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Adequate Data ◽  
Hiv Negative

AbstractObjectivesGiving appropriate guidance to people living with HIV (PLWH) during the COVID-19 pandemic depends on having adequate data to inform recommendations. Several studies have now been published which inform such advice. The objective of this study was to collate this information and review the implications of emerging data.MethodsWe performed a systematic literature search of studies relating COVID-19 to HIV infection from the beginning of the pandemic to end of November 2020. We included both published and pre-published manuscripts and analysed papers according to whether they primarily informed risk of infection or risk of adverse outcome.Results68 papers (including 11 pre-prints) were identified. In terms of risk of infection, it appears that PLWH are no more or less likely to become infected with COVID-19. In terms of outcomes and mortality, most early small studies did not demonstrate an increase in mortality compared to background populations. However, several larger, more recent studies from South Africa, New York and two from the UK demonstrate higher mortality among PLWH when results are adjusted for other risk factors, giving relative risks of 2.1, 1.2, 1.7 and 2.3 respectively. Apparently conflicting results may arise from differences between studies in their power to account for cofactors and confounding variables. HIV-positive non-survivors tend to be younger and have fewer comorbidities than their HIV-negative counterparts; mortality may be higher in PLWH with low CD4 counts.ConclusionsAlthough the literature appears conflicting, large studies which account for covariates strongly suggest that HIV infection increases COVID-19 mortality.

HIV and other STIs in the United Kingdom: further increases

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Health Protection Agency ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Living With Hiv

The Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre for England and Wales and others have reported that the number of people living with HIV in the UK has increased

scholarly journals Prejudicial beliefs and COVID-19 disruptions among sexual minority men living with and not living with HIV in a high SARS-CoV-2 prevalence area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C Kalichman ◽  
Renee El-Krab ◽  
Bruno Shkembi ◽  
Moira O Kalichman ◽  
Lisa A Eaton
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Men ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Sex Partners ◽  
Black African ◽  
Sexual Minority Men ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
Personal Action ◽  
Male Sex ◽  
Living With Hiv

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound health and social impacts. COVID-19 also affords opportunities to study the emergence of prejudice as a factor in taking protective actions. This study investigated the association of COVID-19 concerns, prejudicial beliefs, and personal actions that involve life disruptions among people not living with and people living with HIV. 338 Black/African American men not living with HIV who reported male sex partners and 148 Black/African American men living with HIV who reported male sex partners completed a confidential survey that measured COVID-19 concern, COVID-19 prejudice, and personal action and institutionally imposed COVID-19 disruptions. Participants reported having experienced multiple social and healthcare disruptions stemming from COVID-19, including reductions in social contacts, canceling medical appointments, and inability to access medications. Mediation analyses demonstrated that COVID-19 concerns and COVID-19 prejudice were associated with personal action disruptions, indicating that these social processes are important for understanding how individuals modified their lives in response to COVID-19. It is imperative that public health efforts combat COVID-19 prejudice as these beliefs undermine investments in developing healthcare infrastructure to address COVID-19 prevention.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic Optimism and Vaccine Willingness among an Online Sample of US Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 745
Author(s):  
Rob Stephenson ◽  
Stephen P. Sullivan ◽  
Renee A. Pitter ◽  
Alexis S. Hunter ◽  
Tanaka MD Chavanduka
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Binary Outcomes ◽  
Sex Partners ◽  
Black African ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Public Health Messages ◽  
Sex With Men ◽  
Living With Hiv

This paper presents data from an online sample of U.S gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), to explore the factors associated with three dimensions of vaccine beliefs: perception of the likelihood of a COVID-19 vaccine becoming available, perception of when a COVID-19 vaccine would become available, and the likelihood of taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Data are taken from the Love and Sex in the Time of COVID-19 study, collected from November 2020 to January 2021. A sample of 290 GBMSM is analyzed, modeling three binary outcomes: belief that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine, belief that the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in 6 months, and being very likely to take the COVID-19 vaccine. In contrast to other studies, Black/African Americans and GBMSM living with HIV had higher levels of pandemic optimism and were more likely to be willing to accept a vaccine. Men who perceived a higher prevalence of COVID-19 among their friends and sex partners, and those who had reduced their sex partners, were more likely to be willing to take a COVID-19 vaccine. There remained a small percentage of participants (14%) who did not think the pandemic would end, that there would not be a vaccine and were unlikely to take a vaccine. To reach the levels of vaccination necessary to control the pandemic, it is imperative to understand the characteristics of those experiencing vaccine hesitancy and then tailor public health messages to their unique set of barriers and motivations.

scholarly journals Psychosocial impact on frontline health and social care professionals in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e047353
Author(s):  
Henry Aughterson ◽  
Alison R McKinlay ◽  
Daisy Fancourt ◽  
Alexandra Burton
Keyword(s):  
Personal Growth ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Communication Challenges ◽  
The Uk

ObjectivesTo explore the psychosocial well-being of health and social care professionals working during the COVID-19 pandemic.DesignThis was a qualitative study deploying in-depth, individual interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used for coding.ParticipantsThis study involved 25 participants from a range of frontline professions in health and social care.SettingInterviews were conducted over the phone or video call, depending on participant preference.ResultsFrom the analysis, we identified 5 overarching themes: communication challenges, work-related stressors, support structures, personal growth and individual resilience. The participants expressed difficulties such as communication challenges and changing work conditions, but also positive factors such as increased team unity at work, and a greater reflection on what matters in life.ConclusionsThis study provides evidence on the support needs of health and social care professionals amid continued and future disruptions caused by the pandemic. It also elucidates some of the successful strategies (such as mindfulness, hobbies, restricting news intake, virtual socialising activities) deployed by health and social care professionals that can support their resilience and well-being and be used to guide future interventions.

scholarly journals Excess burden of age-associated comorbidities among people living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada: a population-based cohort study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e041734
Author(s):  
Ni Gusti Ayu Nanditha ◽  
Adrianna Paiero ◽  
Hiwot M Tafessu ◽  
Martin St-Jean ◽  
Taylor McLinden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Age At Diagnosis ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Prevalence Trends ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Negative Controls ◽  
Hiv Negative

ObjectivesAs people living with HIV (PLWH) live longer, morbidity and mortality from non-AIDS comorbidities have emerged as major concerns. Our objective was to compare prevalence trends and age at diagnosis of nine chronic age-associated comorbidities between individuals living with and without HIV.Design and settingThis population-based cohort study used longitudinal cohort data from all diagnosed antiretroviral-treated PLWH and 1:4 age-sex-matched HIV-negative individuals in British Columbia, Canada.ParticipantsThe study included 8031 antiretroviral-treated PLWH and 32 124 HIV-negative controls (median age 40 years, 82% men). Eligible participants were ≥19 years old and followed for ≥1 year during 2000 to 2012.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe presence of non-AIDS-defining cancers, diabetes, osteoarthritis, hypertension, Alzheimer’s and/or non-HIV-related dementia, cardiovascular, kidney, liver and lung diseases were identified from provincial administrative databases. Beta regression assessed annual age-sex-standardised prevalence trends and Kruskal-Wallis tests compared the age at diagnosis of comorbidities stratified by rate of healthcare encounters.ResultsAcross study period, the prevalence of all chronic age-associated comorbidities, except hypertension, were higher among PLWH compared with their community-based HIV-negative counterparts; as much as 10 times higher for liver diseases (25.3% vs 2.1%, p value<0.0001). On stratification by healthcare encounter rates, PLWH experienced most chronic age-associated significantly earlier than HIV-negative controls, as early as 21 years earlier for Alzheimer’s and/or dementia.ConclusionsPLWH experienced higher prevalence and earlier age at diagnosis of non-AIDS comorbidities than their HIV-negative controls. These results stress the need for optimised screening for comorbidities at earlier ages among PLWH, and a comprehensive HIV care model that integrates prevention and treatment of chronic age-associated conditions. Additionally, the robust methodology developed in this study, which addresses concerns on the use of administrative health data to measure prevalence and incidence, is reproducible to other settings.

scholarly journals Exploring the Factors Considered by People Living with HIV and Their Partners during Preconception

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Logan Kennedy ◽  
Micaela Collins ◽  
Mark H. Yudin ◽  
Lena Serghides ◽  
Sharon Walmsley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Logit Model ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
People Living With Hiv ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Hiv Status ◽  
Ordered Logit Model ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Hiv Negative

Data are lacking on factors that may impact conception-related decision-making among individuals living with HIV. This study’s aim was to shed light on these considerations. Participants were invited to complete a survey on preconception considerations. A rank-ordered logit model was fit to estimate the relative importance of listed consideration factors; the interaction of HIV status and the factors was assessed. Fifty-nine participants living with HIV and 18 partners (11 HIV-negative participants and 7 living with HIV) were included. Risk of vertical and horizontal HIV transmission and the effect of antiretroviral therapy on the fetus were the top considerations. However, individuals living with HIV prioritized vertical transmission, whereas HIV-negative participants prioritized horizontal transmission. Other factors of importance were probability of conception, stress of trying to conceive, cost associated with fertility clinics, and stigma associated with certain conception methods. This study builds our understanding of the preconception considerations for people living with HIV.

scholarly journals Kawasaki disease: a prospective population survey in the UK and Ireland from 2013 to 2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 104 (7) ◽  
pp. 640-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M R Tulloh ◽  
Richard Mayon-White ◽  
Anthony Harnden ◽  
Athimalaipet V Ramanan ◽  
E Jane Tizard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kawasaki Disease ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Primary Treatment ◽  
Ivig Treatment ◽  
Cardiac Complications ◽  
Complication Rates ◽  
Seasonal Incidence ◽  
Female Ratio ◽  
Black African ◽  
The Uk

ObjectiveKawasaki disease (KD) is an increasingly common vasculitis with risk of coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs). The last UK survey was in 1990, whereas current epidemiology, treatment patterns and complication rates are unknown. The aim of this study was to address this knowledge gap.MethodsA British Paediatric Surveillance Unit survey in the UK and Ireland from 1 January 2013 to 28 February 2015 ascertained demographics, ethnicity, seasonal incidence, treatment and complication rates.Results553 cases were notified: 389 had complete KD, 46 had atypical KD and 116 had incomplete KD; 2 were diagnosed at postmortem with an incidence of 4.55/100 000 children under 5 years, with a male to female ratio of 1.5:1 and a median age of 2.7 years (2.5 months–15 years). Presentation was highest in January and in rural areas. Most were white (64%), and Chinese and Japanese Asians were over-represented as were black African or African mixed-race children. 94% received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The overall CAA rate was 19%, and all-cardiac complications affected 28%. Those with CAA received IVIG later than in those without (median 10 days vs 7 days). Those under 1 year had fewer symptoms, but the highest CAA rate (39%). Overall 8 of 512 cases (1.6%) had giant CAA, and 4 of 86 cases (5%) under 1 year of age developed giant CAA. Mortality from KD was 0.36%.ConclusionsThe UK and Ireland incidence of KD has increased and is more frequently seen in winter and rural areas. Delayed IVIG treatment is associated with CAA, suggesting earlier and adjunctive primary treatment might reduce complications to prevent CAA, particularly in the very young.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document