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Recorded presentation

Louis Chow, BS¹, Bethany Ketchen, MA¹, Lisa Armistead, PhD¹, Frances Palin, MA¹, Gretchen Lindner, MA¹, and Annalie Pauw, PhD². (1) Georgia State University, 140 Decatur Street, Department of Psychology, Atlanta, GA 30303, 404-463-9766, Lchow1@student.gsu.edu, (2) Psychology, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

Background Approximately 13 percent of all HIV cases are found in South Africa, with Black South African women being disproportionately impacted. In a country where Black women are economically and socially marginalized, HIV infection adds an additional stressor to their lives. The aim of the current study is to provide descriptive information about the sexual behaviors of women living with HIV or AIDS (WLWH) and non-infected Black South African women.

Method Participants were 104 WLWH and 152 non-infected women, who were recruited in and around Pretoria, South Africa. Three sexual behaviors were considered: frequency of vaginal sex and condom use in the past three months, as well as the number of lifetime sexual partners.

Results WLWH reported significantly more condom use in the last 3 months (modal response= always) than non-infected women (modal response= never). Infected women had significantly more lifetime sexual partners (Mean =4.99, SD =4.82 ) than non-infected women (Mean = 3.41, SD =2.51 ), while non-infected women reported engaging significantly more frequently in vaginal sex over the previous three months.

Conclusions Black women in South Africa are disproportionately impacted by HIV. As such, research exploring their sexual health may be an important first step in designing interventions to curb the spread of HIV. This study should be viewed as an initial exploration into the sexual health behaviors of Black South African women

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