Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113769

Katie E. Mosack, PhD¹, Lance Weinhardt, PhD¹, Jeffrey A. Kelly, PhD¹, Cheryl Gore-Felton, PhD¹, Tim McAuliffe, PhD¹, Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, PhD², Anke A. Ehrhardt, PhD³, Margaret Chesney, PhD⁴, and Stephen Morin, PhD⁴. (1) Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2071 N. Summit Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53202, 414-456-7700, mosackinchicago@hotmail.com, (2) Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, 10920 Wilshire, Suite 350, Los Angeles, CA 90024-6521, (3) HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 15, New York, NY 10032, (4) Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 74 New Montgomery #600, San Francisco, CA 94105

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of coping, social support, and depression with health status among HIV-positive persons from different risk group categories. Methods: The participants included 1918 MSM, 827 non-MSM men, and 978 women who provided baseline data for a randomized controlled trial for HIV-infected persons in four U.S. cities. Measures included sociodemographic questions, Coping Self-Efficacy (Chesney, et al., 1996), Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987), Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1967), and the HIV Symptom Index (Justice, et al., 2001). ANOVAs were calculated to examine differences by HIV risk group membership and ethnicity on symptom reports. Hierarchical regression analyses for each risk group were performed to examine the influence of coping, social support, and depression on symptom reports after controlling for ethnic differences. Results: Significant main effects of risk group membership and ethnicity on symptom reports, F(2, 3718)=13.98, p<.01 and F(3, 3665)=28.05, p<.01 were found. Although all regression models were significant and explained between 24.5% and 28.4% of the variance in symptom reports, the influence of coping, social support, and depression was different for those in each risk group. For MSM, coping, social support, and depression independently explained symptom reports; for non-MSM men and women, only depression significantly contributed to the number of symptom reports. Conclusions: Psychosocial factors may have differential effects on subjective health status depending on risk group membership and ethnicity. In particular, interventionists should consider the role that coping and social support plays in the health status of HIV-infected MSM.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Articulate different contextual and social issues that influence HIV-positive persons’ experiences of symptoms.
• 2. Describe the relative influence that coping, social support, and depression have on HIV-positive persons’ health status.
• 3. Discuss the ways in which the study’s results could inform the development of culturally appropriate HIV support interventions.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Psychological Indicators

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.