Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Red Ribbon And The Black Cross: A Qualitative Study Of The Relationship Between Social Activism And Contemporary Black Church Responses To Hiv In Oakland, Ca, Justise Wattree

McNair Research Journal SJSU

The Black Church as a social institution has been a source of social activism during racial crises, but there is a lacking social activist response by Black churches to HIV’s disparate impact on Black communities. Previous research does not adequately explore the influence of community-based organizations on Black church responses to HIV in the context of social activism. This study examines the relationship between social activism and contemporary Black church responses to HIV in Oakland. It considers community-based organizations (CBOs) as potential drivers of social activism. Semi-structured interviews with Black church leaders in Oakland were conducted and content analyzed along …

Hiv-Seropositive Patients’ Experiences With Social Workers: A South African Hiv+ Social Worker’S Reflective Log, Delarise Maud Mulqueeny

The Qualitative Report

Social workers play a pivotal role in HIV-seropositive patients’ treatment and care within South African public antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs. This article is a reflective log of an HIV-seropositive social worker’s observations and reflections on her positionality during a study on HIV-seropositive patients’ experiences of the public ART program in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The primary investigator (PI) utilized various tools and techniques including reflexive bracketing, participatory action research and a reflexive diary to navigate a sensitive study. This was while being cognizant of the fluidity of her insider/outsider positionality. The disclosure of the PI’s HIV-seropositive status culminated in all …

Tactics Against Scheming Diseases, Brian Martin

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

Achieving good health can be thought of as a struggle against opponents—disease and unhealthy practices—that are imagined to be active agents, in a type of thought experiment. These opponents of health, to reduce outrage about their activities, draw on a standard set of tactics: cover-up of the threat, devaluation of victims, reinterpretation of what is happening, use of official processes to give an illusion of safety, and intimidation. To promote good health, each of these tactics can be countered, by exposure of the problem, validation of victims, reframing of what is happening, mobilisation of support, and resistance. Three case studies …

Review Of Infected Kin: Orphan Care And Aids In Lesotho, Cassandra L. Workman

The Journal of Social Encounters

In the opening vignette, “A Story about Joala,” we readers are brought to the highlands of Lesotho to share homebrewed beer with brewers, research participants, and the authors. This experience of sharing a drink asks us to consider what it means to share in Lesotho, what the ties are that hold people together. Like the communal sharing of food, sharing joala is a defining social activity and as we learn throughout the ethnography, one that is important in the creation of kin. Indeed, this book is presented though a kinship-first perspective.

Using this framework and ground-up analytical methodology, Block and …

The Impact Of African American Male Incarceration Rates On The Racial Disparities In Hiv/Aids Rates, Michelle S. Aelion

DePaul Discoveries

In the United States, HIV/AIDS disproportionately impacts African Americans and African American communities. The nature of this national health disparity is complex and cannot be explained simply by one factor or an individual’s behavior within a given community. This paper suggests that the disparity in African American male incarceration rates is among the most important factors to consider in the racial disparities of HIV/AIDS rates. Existing studies on relevant subjects were examined and used to create a conceptual model of factors. This model presents an outline of factors during pre-incarceration, incarceration, and post-incarceration that contribute to the racial disparities in …

Superman And Wonder Woman: French Champions For Hiv/Aids Prevention Of Failed Aids Campaign?, Stephen M. Croucher, Terry L. Rentner

Speaker & Gavel

In 2004, the French government sponsored an AIDS/HIV prevention campaign; AIDES.ORG using photos of AIDS infected Superman and Wonder Woman to persuade adolescents to adopt preventative behaviors. This article asserts campaign organizers cancelled the campaign because it failed to provide audience efficacy and incorrectly manipulated fear in its campaign messages. Moreover, this article compares the AIDES.ORG campaign to other AIDS/HIV campaigns and argues effective health communication campaigns must provide efficacy to facilitate adoption of desired preventative behaviors. The Social Norms Approach is offered as an alternative method for developing effective health communication campaigns.

A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Rethinking Aids Website, Jennifer Dettmann

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

A group of scientists known as the Group for Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV-AIDS hypothesis created a web site title, Rethinking AIDS. The group behind the web site argues that AIDS is not a sexually transmitted disease. They even question the existence of the virus entity. My analysis is driven by the critical question: Does the web site construct a reality that affectively alters our perception of HIV-AIDS? In order to answer this question, Goodnight and Poulakos 1981 article, Conspiracy rhetoric: from pragmatism to fantasy to public discourse (Western Journal of Speech), will be utilized.

“Work What You Got”: Political Participation And Hiv-Positive Black Women’S Work To Restore Themselves And Their Communities, Monica L. Melton

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

Black women’s rates of HIV/AIDS infection have skyrocketed in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups over the past thirty years. Despite these rates, HIV-positive Black women’s perspectives are rarely sought regarding best practices to eradicate and interrupt HIV/AIDS among African American women, even though historically Black women have often proved phenomenal agents of social change. HIV-positive Black women’s activism has been understudied and input from the community in crisis has rarely been deemed as valuable to public health officials in HIV/AIDS prevention and interventions. Through the narratives of thirty HIV-positive Floridian Black women, I present HIV-positive Black women’s political …

Aids: An Overview, Loretta Mclaughlin

New England Journal of Public Policy

"We stand nakedly in front of a very serious pandemic, as mortal as any pandemic there ever has been," said Halfdan Mahler, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). "I don't know of any greater killer than AIDS, not to speak of its psychological, social and economic maiming. Everything is getting worse and worse with AIDS and all of us have been underestimating it, and I in particular. We're running scared. I cannot imagine a worse health problem in this century." When asked to compare AIDS to other epidemics, such as smallpox, that have infected and killed over the course …

Celibacy, Sexual Exclusivity, And Illicit Drug Abstinence: Giving Up The Life As Taboo In Aids Prevention, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article highlights social cognitions that seem to impede cost-effective approaches to AIDS prevention.

Trends. The Privileged Status Of The Physical In Health Ideology: The Security Consequences Of Aids, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses the importance of recognizing both physical and psychological factors of the AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) pandemic on security.

Psychological Summary Of The Aids Pandemic, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes many of the psychological aspects related to identifying and responding to the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic.

A Study From Uganda: Hiv Causal Attributional Structuring, Negative Affect, And Coping Among People With Hiv/Aids. Part Ii, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Note: The following is the last section of the article authored by Dr. Peter Kakubeire Baguma, Institute of Psychology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. (See the IBPP issue of February 16 for the first section.) Dr. Baguma's work is extremely timely for three reasons. First, AIDS continues as a pandemic, and culturally relevant theory and data continue to be crucial in developing primary, secondary, and tertiary intervention strategies. Second, AIDS continues as a global security issue with implications for economics, politics, governmental stability, and war and peace. The psychology of AIDS bears on this issue and implications. Third, Baguma's efforts …

A Study From Uganda: Hiv Causal Attributional Structuring, Negative Affect, And Coping Among People With Hiv/Aids. Errata., Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

Readers should access http://www.pr.erau.edu/~security/baguma-tables.html for the conclusion of this article and twelve data tables.

Trends. The Attack On Mbeki: Praising Through Damning, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the controversial contention by President Thabo Mbeki of the Republic of South Africa that poverty and lack of health infrastructures are the causes of AIDS and HIV in Africa instead of limiting his analysis to the biological line of virus inducing disease.

The Import Of Political Psychology For Global Health And Security: The Case Of Aids, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes a number of applied research areas that political psychologists can explore to help manage the threat to global health and security from acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Trends. Controlling Aids Through Control, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the concept of political control and public health in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Heterosexuality, Condoms, And Political Destabilization In Africa, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes psychosocial factors linked to condom use and the political implications of not maintaining this linkage.

Aids News As Risk Communication, Admassu Tassew

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Reports on a study of AIDS prevention stories in four prestige dailies, two in Europe and two in Africa, over an eight-year period.

Quantitative Economic Evaluations Of Hiv-Related Prevention And Treatment Services: A Review, David R. Holtgrave, Ronald O. Valdiserri, Gary A. West

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Dr. Holtgrave and colleagues at the CDC set forth an extensive taxonomy of HIV prevention and treatment services and review reports of efforts to subject some of those services to formal economic evaluation. They find few services thus far to have been so evaluated, no evaluation to have focused solely upon behavioral outcomes and most economic evaluations to lack formal quantitative analyses.

Aids And The Homeless Of Boston, James J. O'Connell, Joan Lebow

New England Journal of Public Policy

Homeless persons with AIDS and HIV infection face significant health hazards during the daily struggle for survival on the streets and in the crowded shelters of our cities. This article offers a historical perspective on the evolution of the AIDS epidemic within the homeless population of Boston and examines the demographics, risk behaviors, and survival statistics of that epidemic. The Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program is presented as a model of service delivery that offers quality health care to homeless persons with AIDS while addressing the special needs of those bound by the immediacy of the next meal …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

On occasion, the New England Journal of Public Policy will devote an entire issue to consideration of a public policy matter of major importance. The AIDS epidemic is such a matter, with a likely impact of overwhelming consequence well into the twenty-first century. The epidemic raises fundamental questions regarding the nature of individual freedom, our responsibilities to others, the always delicate balance between private rights and the public interest, and society's obligation to its "out" groups — whose members it has stigmatized, discriminated against, ridiculed, and treated as less than full and equal citizens. Indeed, it requires us to ask …

The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome In New England: An Epidemiological Review Of The First Six Years, Laureen M. Kunches, Jeanne M. Day

New England Journal of Public Policy

Between 1981 and 1987 — the six-year period following initial recognition of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) — 1,475 cases were reported among residents of the six New England states. Of nearly 40,000 cases nationwide, 3.8 percent occurred among New England residents, though the region 's population represents 5.5 percent ofthe total United States population. The groups most affected include homosexual or bisexual men (65 percent) and intravenous drug users (20 percent). However, in the two southernmost states — Rhode Island and Connecticut — 32 to 40 percent of all cases have used intravenous drugs. In these states, the male:female …

The Quest For An Aids Vaccine, Robert T. Schooley

New England Journal of Public Policy

More than fifty thousand cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States since the disease wasfirst described in 1981. Many times this number of people are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which has been identified as the agent responsible for the illness. The seriousness of the disease, coupled with the relatively rapid spread of HIV, has fueled the effort for development of an effective vaccine.

Much is now known about the life cycle of the virus, and about its structural components. This information, and information about methods of transmission of the virus, form the basis for a …

Aids: Prophecy And Present Reality, Victor De Gruttola, William Ira Bennett

New England Journal of Public Policy

Mathematical modeling of the AIDS epidemic can be useful for policymakers even though precise projections are not possible at this time. Models are useful in establishing ranges for current and future prevalence of HIV infection and incidence of AIDS, as well as in predicting the effect of a given intervention strategy. Most decision makers are using models implicitly when they use epidemiological information as a basis for policy; formulating a model explicitly permits examination of the underlying assumptions. By creating and testing a variety of models, an investigator can determine whether the models reflect more the underlying assumptions or the …

Understanding The Psychological Impact Of Aids: The Other Epidemic, Marshall Forstein

New England Journal of Public Policy

HIV has created two epidemics, one of disease, the other the consequence of the psychological response to that disease. Thus far, behavioral change is the only effective means of interrupting the transmission of HIV. The underlying psychological dimensions of the societal and individual responses to AIDS are discussed, with suggestions for how both rational thinking and irrational fears and anxiety contribute to the development of public policy. Examples are given of how short-term solutions to reduce anxiety may actually create long-term problems, potentially increasing the risk of transmission of HIV. Specific psychological mechanisms that contribute to the epidemic of fear …

U.S. Women And Hiv Infection, P. Clay Stephens

New England Journal of Public Policy

Women are inadequately provided with HIV services and education and are differentially denied access to these. Divisions of race, ethnicity, economic class, and religion, among others, are compounded by sexual discrimination within each of these categories.

Review of current data on women with AIDS reveals that the reporting methods used convey a false impression that women are not at significant risk. Moreover, the persons indirectly affected by AIDS are predominantly women — mothers, sisters, partners, family members, teachers, and human service workers. Thus, AIDS is more of a women's issue than the statistics imply.

Women, as a gender-defined class, face …

List Of Terms

New England Journal of Public Policy

Lists and defines terms relevant to the study of HIV/AIDS that are used throughout this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy.

Aids: An Overview, Loretta Mclaughlin

New England Journal of Public Policy

"We stand nakedly in front of a very serious pandemic, as mortal as any pandemic there ever has been," said Halfdan Mahler, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). "I don't know of any greater killer than AIDS, not to speak of its psychological, social and economic maiming. Everything is getting worse and worse with AIDS and all of us have been underestimating it, and I in particular. We're running scared. I cannot imagine a worse health problem in this century." When asked to compare AIDS to other epidemics, such as smallpox, that have infected and killed over the course …

Neuropsychiatric Complications Of Hiv Infection: Public Policy Implications, Alexandra Beckett, Theo Manschreck

New England Journal of Public Policy

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects the central nervous system (CNS), causing symptoms in most persons with AIDS-related complex (ARC) and AIDS, and in a significant proportion of those classified as asymptomatic seropositive. The most common clinical syndrome secondary to CNS infection is known as HIV encephalopathy. When sufficiently disabling, HIV encephalopathy is known as AIDS dementia, and must be reported to the Centers for Disease Control as a case of AIDS.

AIDS dementia is a complex of cognitive, affective, behavioral, and motor symptoms which varies widely in its presentation. In some persons, cognitive impairment predominates, manifesting in a loss …