The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #58096

Liliana Rojas-Guyler, PhD, MHSE, Health Promotion and Education Program, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210002, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0002, 513 556 0993, Liliana.Guyler@uc.edu

Relationships among acculturation, health protective sexual communication practices and HIV/AIDS risk behaviors of Hispanic women residing in a large midwestern city will be discussed. This study utilized a convenience sample of 295 Hispanic women from a single center. Data was collected using a written questionnaire, or structured interview upon request. Respondents represented 14 Latin American countries, a mean age of 29.5 years, and relatively low education and income levels. Results indicated that, higher non-Hispanic acculturation levels were correlated with higher number of sexual partners in the prior 12 months (rho = -.540, p < .001, alpha = .05) and with higher levels of health protective sexual communication with new sexual partners (rho = .303, p = .029, alpha = .05). The higher the score for health protective sexual communication, the higher the reported frequency of condom use with new sexual partners (prior 12 months). Given the low number of sexual partners in the prior 12 months (83.1% reported having had only 1 sexual partner), HIV/AIDS risk for this group of women appears to be related to not knowing whether their partners had other sexual partners (37% reported low likelihood and 55% reported they did not know) and to low frequency of condom use (18% reported using condoms always or often). Implications for health education and HIV/AIDS prevention messages for Hispanic women will be presented including limitations of condom-based methods, implications for further research & suggested initiatives in program planning.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize health disparities for Hispanic women in the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
• Articulate relationships found among risk behaviors, acculturation and sexual communication as related to HIV/AIDS in Hispanic women.
• Discuss implications of study findings to Health Education professional preparation and practice.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Minority Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.