Challenges and opportunities for HIV prevention and care: insights from focus groups of HIV-infected African American men

Abstract

Given the inordinate burden of HIV illness borne by African American men, investigations of HIV prevention and care in this population are urgently needed. In this qualitative study, a sample of 20 HIV-infected African American men participated in two focus groups in which they exchanged experiences and ideas about living with HIV. They shared details about how they were personally impacted by HIV, and together they constructed a perspective on the larger societal context in which the HIV infection rate among African American men continues unabated. The men focused on growing complacency about HIV/AIDS in the United States, underfunding of supports and services, stigmas operative in African American communities, and differential care based on race, gender, and diagnosis. They saw opportunity in personal strategies that help individual men infected with HIV to take a more empowered stance to deal with the disease and improve their health but looked for changes undertaken by African Americans at the community level to make a real difference in the epidemic. Their vision included enhanced support for HIV prevention and care from influential community institutions like Black churches, more open dialogue about drugs and sexual behavior, and capacity-building for families whose members are HIV-infected or at risk for HIV.