2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

328187
Coping strategies, life themes, and HIV nondisclosure in autobiographical narratives in relation to HIVviral load and HAART adherence in women with HIV


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 10:50 a.m. - 11:10 a.m.

Leslie Brody, PhD, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
Yudelki M. Firpo, BA, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston,, MA
Dana Bruck-Segal, MA, Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA
Kathleen Weber, RN, Departments of Medicine/CORE Center at John H. Stroger Jr Hospital of Cook County, Cook County Health & Hospital System, Chicago, IL
Mardge H. Cohen, MD, Departments of Medicine/CORE Center at John H. Stroger Jr Hospital of Cook County, Cook County Health & Hospital System, Chicago, IL
Goals: Investigate relationships of HAART adherence, HIV viral load (VL), and HIV nondisclosure with autobiographical themes and coping strategies in women with HIV.

Methods: 100 Chicago women with HIV (91% African American, mean age 45 years) from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) narrated 3 life turning points, each coded reliably for themes (e.g. trauma, nondisclosure of HIV status) and coping strategies, including conflict avoidance (not confronting stressful situations), distraction (turning attention away from stress), and cognitive distortion (denying feelings/actions).  Outcomes included VL (detectable/undetectable) and self-reported HAART adherence (cutoff >= 95%).     

Results:  The most frequent themes were stressful relationships and psychological distress (both N =96).  Controlling for demographics and narrative word count, partial correlations indicated that HIV nondisclosure (N = 18) related to detectable VL (r = .22, p < .03) and conflict avoidance (r = .29, p < .004). Themes were related to coping strategies, but in regression analyses coping strategies contributed more variance to VL and adherence than did themes (VL was related to conflict avoidance (OR = 2.03, 95% CI= 1.12 – 3.68, p < .05) and distraction (OR = 2.81, 95% CI = 1.31 – 6.04, p < .05) and adherence was related to cognitive distortions (OR = .45, 95% CI = .25 – .82, p < .05)). Associations between coping and viral load remained significant after controlling for adherence. 

Conclusions: Public health efforts to promote health in women with HIV can be improved by promoting non-avoidant coping whereby conflict and stress are directly acknowledged.  

Learning Areas:

Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the contributions of autobiographical life themes and avoidant coping strategies to HIV viral load, HAART adherence and nondisclosure of HIV status in women with HIV.

Keyword(s): Women and HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the co-principal investigator of a federally funded grant (the Women's Interagency HIV study) focusing on coping strategies, gender roles and health outcomes in women with HIV and have published multiple papers on these topics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3188.0: Learning from Women with HIV: Coping Strategies, Gender Role Behaviors and Parenting