HIV in a relational context: Understanding social support among HIV-infected African American dyads

Background: Social support is a key resource within African American communities and it has been associated with better physical and mental health outcomes among HIV-positive people. However, researchers have not adequately explored how social support functions among HIV-positive African Americans. We believe that a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between HIV-related problems, support resources, and relational functioning is imperative in order to develop effective interventions within HIV-affected African American communities.

Methods: Thirty-four HIV-infected (i.e., seroconcordant) dyads completed psychosocial questionnaires and a communication task. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, we analyzed dyadic data to determine whether there were actor and/or partner effects within dyadic relationships on measures of support and conflict and HIV-related problems, communication about these problems, and health symptoms.

Results: As predicted, we found significant relationships in the hypothesized directions between relational support and HIV-related problems, communication about these problems, and perceptions of problem inequity within dyads. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant relationship between social support and HIV symptoms.

Conclusions: Although our study precludes our drawing causal conclusions, we have found evidence of a relationship between the personal experience of HIV-related problems, the communication of these problems, and perceptions of social support among HIV-infected African American dyads. These findings suggest the need to consider how support-related communication within HIV-infected dyads might influence and be influenced by problem perceptions. They also provide a framework for the development of a culturally relevant support intervention within HIV-affected communities to help HIV-positive African Americans better cope with the disease.