Download or read book Exploring the Life Experiences of Afro Caribbean Immigrant Women Living with HIV written by Krista Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 35 million individuals across the globe are living with HIV, nearly one-half of whom are women (UNAIDS, 2013). In the most affected areas, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, women comprise up to 60% of those living with HIV (UNAIDS, 2012, UNAIDS, 2013). Little research has focused the life experiences of Afro-Caribbean immigrant women living with HIV. Prior studies primarily emphasized epidemiological data (Hoffman, Ransome, Adams-Skinner, Shiun, & Terzian, 2012) and high risk behaviors and attitudes (Braithwaite & Thomas, 2001; Gillespie-Johnson, 2005; Hoffman, et al., 2008; Shedlin, et al., 2006). This phenomenological study explored the life experiences of eight Afro-Caribbean adult immigrant women from the English-speaking Caribbean living in New York City who were HIV positive. Participants were identified with the assistance of key informants in the Afro-Caribbean community. A semi-structured interview guide facilitated discussion around topics such as immigration status, coping, self-perception, formal and informal support networks. Participants were given a $25 Metro Card or grocery gift card as a "thank you" for their time. Data were analyzed according to Creswell's (2007) Simplification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen Method of Phenomenological Analysis created by Moustakas (1994). This entailed bracketing, identification of meaning units and themes, construction of individual textural and structural descriptions. A composite description encapsulated the "essence" of the phenomenon. These Afro-Caribbean women portrayed specific cultural nuances related to disclosure and the accompanying stigma and discrimination. Maintaining secrecy.to ensure the safety of families who remained in home countries was of utmost importance. The women relied heavily on community support networks facilitated by caseworkers, social workers and medical professionals. Additionally, they focused on self-care and spirituality. These elements, combined, defined their overall experiences. Social workers can assist in enhancing the quality of life of this population by identifying specific challenges and creating culturally-appropriate and gender-specific interventions, including prevention/education programs. Advocacy should focus on immigration issues and programming specific to immigrant populations. The unique experiences shared by these Afro-Caribbean women living with HIV supports further investigation with other sub-populations within the group such as with women, non-English speaking Caribbean populations, and more recently diagnosed women

Download or read book Understanding the Lived Experience of African American Women Living with HIV AIDS written by Lydia Octavia Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Holding on written by Alyson O'Daniel and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In "Holding On," anthropologist Alyson O Daniel analyzes the abstract debates about health policy for the sickest and most vulnerable Americans as well as the services designated to help them by taking readers into the daily lives of poor African American women living with HIV at the advent of the 2006 Treatment Modernization Act. At a time when social support resources were in decline and publicly funded HIV/AIDS care programs were being re-prioritized, women s daily struggles with chronic poverty, drug addiction, mental health, and neighborhood violence influenced women s lives in sometimes unexpected ways. An ethnographic portrait of HIV-positive black women and their interaction with the U.S. healthcare system, "Holding On" reveals how gradients of poverty and social difference shape women s health care outcomes and, by extension, women s experience of health policy reform. Set among the realities of poverty, addiction, incarceration, and mental illness, the case studies in "Holding On" illustrate how subtle details of daily life affect health and how overlooking them when formulating public health policy has fostered social inequality anew and undermined health in a variety of ways."

Download or read book Using Narratives to Explore the Role of Gender based Violence and Inequality on the Reproductive Health and Disease Status of HIV African Immigrant Women written by Joy Allison Learman and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United Nations Population Fund has identified gender inequality and gender-based violence as two of the main threats to women's reproductive health. In fact, researchers have estimated that between one quarter and one half of all women with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, have abusive partners. Given the pervasiveness and far-reaching effects of these phenomena, it is essential to take steps to mitigate the possible negative consequences on women's reproductive health, including HIV status. This exploratory qualitative research study was designed to gain further insight into the contextual factors and personal experiences of HIV positive African immigrant women, with the goal of informing the development of contextually-tailored HIV risk reduction strategies. This study, guided by a theoretical framework based on Feminist Theory, Critical Race Theory and the Theory of Gender and Power, utilized in-depth interviews with six HIV positive African immigrant women. Narrative analysis was used to explore the women's narratives on the role of gender-based violence and inequality on their disease status. The main overarching theme revealed in the women's narratives was that marriage is a vulnerable status that can actually put women at risk for contracting HIV. This vulnerability is based on social norms that state once women are married, they: 1) should not say "No" to sex with their husbands, 2) should not ask their husbands to use a condom, and 3) should not divorce husbands for having concurrent sexual partners. The women's narratives showed how the gender norms and decision-making process they observed in their families of origin, and in the larger community, affect their sexual decision making in their intimate relationships. Their narratives also introduced us to their experiences of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. Finally, listening to the narratives of HIV positive African immigrant women educated us on the stigma and silence around HIV in their community, in addition to paving the way for recommendations on preventing the spread of HIV in their communities in the United States, as well as abroad. Implications for social work practice and policy, as well as future research are discussed.

Download or read book She s Positive Extraordinary Lives Blhb written by Thurka Sangaramoorthy and published by Aevo Utp. This book was released on 2023-04-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She's Positive uncovers the hidden truth about the HIV epidemic in America by sharing the inspiring stories of Black women whose voices have previously been erased.

Download or read book A Qualitative Exploration of the Experiences of Black Caribbean MSM Living with HIV written by Claudine Best and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Phenomenological Study of HIV AIDS and Health Promotion Among African American Women written by Shakila Flentroy and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African American women continue to be at the forefront of the discussion of health disparities, especially as related to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Nationally, African American women account for 64% of new HIV diagnoses among women, and AIDS is one of the top ten leading causes of death for African American women aged 15-64 years. Notwithstanding HIV/AIDS, African Americans continue to experience disparities related to physical health and mental health outcomes, as compared to the larger U.S. population. Although there has been a wealth of research examining HIV/AIDS prevention programs targeting African American women, the ways in which participants understand and create meaning from these interventions are lacking in the literature. Several qualitatively oriented papers have discussed themes derived from the lived experience of persons living with HIV/AIDS, however, the collective patterns of shared meanings and experiences (personal and cultural) that create a sense of purpose, and understanding to an individual's life as it pertains to HIV prevention have not been explored. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how the participants of the Healer Women Fighting Disease Project in Austin, Texas understand themselves in relation to the intervention. The Healer Women Fighting disease intervention is an African-centered HIV prevention program that includes a general health component to address preventive health alongside HIV/AIDS prevention. One component of the intervention focused on sacred stones (i.e., Healing Stone) as a traditional African healing tool used for African American women's health and mental health. Using Afrocentric theory as the basic framework for this program, the African Centered Behavioral Change Model was based on the principle of re-instilling traditional cultural values into African-descent people based on the premise that African Americans, for the most part, survived historically based on Afrocentric worldviews and African values and traditions. The data for the study were secondary data of journals written by women over an eight-week period who participated in the Healer Women program, a systematic random sample of the 60 journals (from the original study) was used to select 20 journals for analysis for this study. Phenomenological analysis was used to elicit themes, ultimately leading to five major themes, three of which had subthemes. The themes that emerged during the coding and analysis process included: turning to a higher power (subthemes: leaning on faith and practicing faith); self-care (subthemes: thinking, identifying and practicing); sense of true self (subthemes: becoming, I can imagine, and I am), healing from previous pain, and sense of purpose and meaning. Findings suggest that the sacred stones held strong resonance for the women and strongly impacted their commitment to better health and mental health. Further, creating meaning within the context of the women's African heritage was the key to achieving behavioral change, and empowering the women to make healthier life choices. In addition, the findings suggest that incorporating African cultural values in the lives of African American women promotes, physical and mental well-being, spirituality, healing, a sense of authentic self, and purpose and meaning. Therefore, as health disparities continue to rise in this population, Afrocentric and effective prevention programming is desperately needed. This research highlights that social work and public health prevention programs aimed at eradicating HIV/AIDS and promoting wellness for African American women should include African cultural values and principles as the core of the intervention in order to yield positive outcomes among this population.

Download or read book African born Women Seeking HIV Care in Philadelphia written by Kimberly McClellan and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the U.S. care arena, both privately and federally funded programs exist to provide targeted HIV care and services. The majority of these programs place emphasis on access to care, especially for programs serving diverse and traditionally vulnerable populations. Despite this programmatic availability, African-born, HIV-positive women living in the U.S. continue to experience care disparity. This study's significance derives from the need to redress the injustice of health disparity encountered by this population. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore and understand the role of a community of practice among African-born, HIV-positive women seeking and obtaining care in Philadelphia. The Promise Keepers are an existing community of practice that gathers regularly to deepen, share, and create a living repository of their knowledge of living as HIV-positive, African-born women. The participants of this study were purposely sampled by convenience from this existing practice community of seven African-born women, representative of five diverse African countries of origin. These seven participants included women ranging in age from 25 to 62 with a mean age of 44 years of age. They possessed diverse family composition in terms of marital and parental status, as well as attained educational levels. The methods of this study included one-on-one interviews, a group interview, and participant observation. Through thematic coding of the stories or "Way Makers" of the Promise Keepers, this study's three major themes emerged: (a) internal perception of self, (b) external perception of self, and (c) community. Apparent through analysis and framed theoretically by Rosenstock's Health Belief Model (HBM) was this study's finding of the relevance and positive effect of education in the restoration of self-efficacy among community of practice members. As voiced by the Promise Keepers, it was the group-mediated education, established trust, and created "safe space" that reduced members' perceived risk of isolation and enhanced their perceived benefit of seeking support to achieve wellness. Additionally, this study's adaptation of Rosenstock's HBM with the social cognitive construct of self-efficacy among HIV-positive, African-born women living in the U.S. presents a novel addition to the subject literature. Through the voiced, lived experiences of this practice community recommendations for expanded outreach, future research, and adaptation of the HBM, along with implications for practice and teaching, are presented. Key words: African born, women, HIV, access to care, disparity, injustice, community of practice, phenomenological, self-efficacy, Rosenstock's Health Belief Model, safe space, wellness.

Download or read book Remaking a Life written by Celeste Watkins-Hayes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2019-08-20 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the face of life-threatening news, how does our view of life change—and what do we do it transform it? Remaking a Life uses the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a lens to understand how women generate radical improvements in their social well being in the face of social stigma and economic disadvantage. Drawing on interviews with nationally recognized AIDS activists as well as over one hundred Chicago-based women living with HIV/AIDS, Celeste Watkins-Hayes takes readers on an uplifting journey through women’s transformative projects, a multidimensional process in which women shift their approach to their physical, social, economic, and political survival, thereby changing their viewpoint of “dying from” AIDS to “living with” it. With an eye towards improving the lives of women, Remaking a Life provides techniques to encourage private, nonprofit, and government agencies to successfully collaborate, and shares policy ideas with the hope of alleviating the injuries of inequality faced by those living with HIV/AIDS everyday.

Download or read book The Influence of Culture written by Dianne Marie Green-Smith and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Health seeking Experiences of Mexican American Women with HIV AIDS written by Barbara Aranda-Naranjo and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Exploring meaningful experiences of Black women with HIV written by Cherita Yvonne Johnson Cloy and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book HIV in the Ghetto written by Kenneth Nole and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-21 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This project addresses the need for shalom communities for African American women infected with HIV and who also live in the inner-city or ghettos of Chicago. I advocate for these shalom spaces because they are a vital element in helping African American women with HIV heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. The current study comprised one-on-one interviews with three groups of people: 1. African American women who have HIV, 2. individuals who share the Black experience in the ghetto, and 3. individuals who work in the religious, healthcare, and nutrition sectors in Chicago. The investigation is centered on the lived experiences of African American women with HIV who live in the inner-city and identifying the level of need for shalom communities to support their holistic development. Data were analyzed qualitatively and summarized into themes. The results show that the lived experience of African American women with HIV in Chicago's inner city is one that consist of many themes surrounding poverty, healthcare, and more. Data confirms the biblical and theological correlations to the Black experience and that the voice of women in the ghetto has few outlets. They also support the theory that African American women with HIV in Chicago's ghettos need shalom communities that give purpose, clarity, insight, and life to their experiences.

Download or read book Women Living in Kibera Kenya written by Samaya VanTyler and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an abundance of biomedical and social science research relating to HIV/AIDS which has focused on understanding the disease from a medical crisis. The research has attended to matters of prevention and clinical treatment. This study is a naturalistic study which explores the socio-economic and political-cultural aspects of the disease in and on the lives of nine women living in one of the world's mega slums, Kibera in Kenya. The study is based on the assumption that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has brought about social disruption and profound changes to the micro contexts of community and family life. Cultural norms, practices and values that historically sustained the fabric of African life are slowly being stripped away as those infected with HIV and their families cope with the impact of the chronic illness. Living as HIV+ women is yet one more challenge that these women face every day. They struggle to provide self-care and a healthy life for those they are responsible for within an environment that lacks so many social determinants of health. Using a methodological convergence of narrative, feminist and Indigenous methodologies within a post-colonial paradigm, I have explored how nine HIV+ African women story/experience their daily lives and participate in community activities. Consideration of the reality of the day to day experiences of HIV+ women living in an African slum settlement may offer insights for government, policy makers, and community-based and non-government organizations to better support and promote quality of life for those living with HIV/AIDS.

Download or read book Picturing Life written by Toshua Willingham Kennedy and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Narrative Inquiry Into the Experiences of Sub Saharan African Immigrants Living with HIV in Alberta Canada written by Añiela Marie Manalo Dela Cruz and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current epidemiological data show an increasing number of men and women from sub-Saharan African countries who are living with HIV in Alberta. New cases of HIV between 1999 and 2008 among both men and women in the heterosexual (endemic) risk category have increased. In 2008, one Alberta HIV Clinic estimated that 20% of new HIV-positive clients had come from HIV-endemic countries; this had increased from 1% in 1998. There is little known about the experiences of African immigrants living with HIV in Alberta communities. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to understand the experiences of sub-Saharan African immigrants living with HIV in Alberta. Clandinin and Connelly's (2000) form of narrative inquiry was the qualitative methodology used for this study. Following the collection of field texts through in-depth conversations and field journal writing, narrative accounts were co-composed with research participants. Three participants' narrative accounts are presented in the dissertation and center on stories of childhood, life before living in Canada, coming to Canada, living in Canada, receiving an HIV diagnosis and living with HIV. A unique researcher-participant relationship allowed for extended collaboration and the development of a close researcher-participant relationship, with relational ethics at the center. Narrative threads that resonated between participant accounts included: stories to live by (narrative forms of identity), including the search for narrative coherence and living in the midst of transition; found and chosen communities; and narrative interlappings. This dissertation concludes with a chapter discussing the personal, social and practical significance of this study: the phenomenon of narrative inquiry, the social landscapes that shape experience and stories to live by, and new possibilities that nurses may attend to.

Download or read book Factors Associated with HIV Among Black Women Experiencing Poverty Exploring the Intersection of Gender Race and Class written by Robin Hardin and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More Black women are living with HIV relative to women from all other racial backgrounds, with unprotected heterosexual sex being the primary mode of transmission. There are power dynamics due to gender, class, and race that may increase susceptibility to contracting HIV among Black women with low socioeconomic status. Exploring the sociocultural and contextual factors that contribute to these high rates of HIV among Black women is critical for prevention efforts. Guided by Black feminist theory, which examines the intersectional effects of multiple marginalized identities, we formulated the current study. This study explored how factors embedded in the intersection of race, gender, and class, influence HIV rates among Black women in Memphis, Tennessee who are experiencing poverty. This qualitative study employed grounded theory techniques to explore how the experiences of being a Black woman with a low socioeconomic status contributes to a diagnosis of HIV. Participants included 12 Black women living with HIV. They completed semi-structured, hour-long interviews exploring factors that contributed to their HIV diagnosis. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and grounded theory techniques were used to analyze the data (Rubin & Rubin, 2011). Analyses revealed six themes that emerged as risk factors from the interviews: adverse childhood experiences, substance use, sexual partner concurrency, intimate partner violence, poverty, and relationship imperative. Additionally, religion and finding meaning emerged as protective factors for those living with HIV. Results from the current study highlight how these factors are embedded in the intersection of race, gender, and class for Black women experiencing poverty. Findings provide a foundation for understanding how HIV risk among Black women experiencing poverty begin and is upheld. These results can help mental health professionals in addressing HIV risk within the therapeutic context when working with Black women experiencing poverty..