Hablando Claro: Utilizing familismo to create HIV prevention dialogue among Latina intergenerational dyads

Over 8 out of 10 HIV positive Latinas were infected through heterosexual contact. Between 1998 and 2009, heterosexually acquired AIDS among Hispanic women increased from 34% to 52%. Latinas experience HIV risk factors similar to their male counterparts; however, they vary in perceived risk and susceptibility, cultural and gender norms, and lack of care. These variations relate to a unique aspect of Latina risk—the finding that marriage has been cited as the largest HIV risk factor among Mexican women. Although Latinos tend to value family unity as a driving cultural tenet and motivation to succeed, familismo has rarely been integrated into HIV prevention. Furthermore within families of immigrant parents, wherein the child has largely acculturated to U.S. norms, sexual expectations and communication often differ greatly between the generations. In an effort to develop a culturally and linguistically relevant HIV prevention intervention focusing on Latina intergenerational dyads the NCLR/CSULB Center for Latino Community Health developed Hablando Claro to decrease sexual health risk and increase HIV prevention dialogue within the family. Pre, post and follow-up data demonstrate that adult and adolescent Latinas report statistically significant increases in HIV risk-related dialogue at post intervention but that this increase for adolescents diminished at three month follow up. This presentation will explore the need for culturally relevant programming to sanction family-based sexual risk-related dialogue, explores the three month follow-up data, and presents rationale as to why Latina mothers' perceptions of HIV risk dialogue may differ from those of their more acculturated teenage daughters.