Discrimination and Hate Crimes in the Context of Neighborhood Poverty and Stressors among HIV-Positive African-American Men Who Have Sex with Men

In a sample of HIV-positive African-American men who have sex with men (MSM), we examined neighborhood factors that may contextualize perceived discrimination from three intersecting stigmatized characteristics: race, HIV status, and sexual orientation. HIV-positive African-American MSM (N = 162, mean age = 44, SD = 8) provided information on neighborhood-related stressors and discrimination experiences related to being Black, HIV-positive, or perceived as gay. 

Residential ZIP codes and US Census data were used to determine neighborhood poverty rates. Regressions, controlling for socio-demographics, indicated that (1) higher neighborhood poverty was significantly related to more frequent experiences with hate crimes (Gay-related: b = 1.15, SE = .43, p < .008); and (2) higher neighborhood-related stressors were significantly related to more frequent discrimination and hate crimes. 

For HIV-positive African-American MSM, higher neighborhood poverty and related stressors are associated with experiencing more discrimination and hate crimes. Interventions for this group should promote individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic empowerment and stigma reduction.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/ysiWZS

By:   Dale SK1,2, Bogart LM3, Galvan FH4, Wagner GJ3, Pantalone DW5,6, Klein DJ7.

• 1Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. skdale@mgh.harvard.edu.
• 2Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. skdale@mgh.harvard.edu.
• 3Health Unit, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA.
• 4Bienestar Human Services, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA.
• 5University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA.
• 6The Fenway Institute of Fenway Health, Boston, MA, USA.
• 7RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA. 

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health

Pathways to HIV-Related Behavior among Heterosexual, Rural Black Men: A Person-Centered Analysis

We investigated the psychosocial mechanisms linking personal and contextual risk factors to HIV-related behavior among 498 rural Black men. We characterized HIV-related behavior in terms of profile groups and hypothesized that contextual and personal risk factors (childhood adversity, community disadvantage, incarceration, and racial discrimination) would predict HIV-related behavior indirectly via two psychosocial mechanisms: impulsivity and negative relational schemas. 

Study results documented three HIV-related behavior profile groups. 

• The Safer group reported low levels of risky behavior. 
• The Risk-Taking group reported inconsistent condom use and elevated substance use. 
• The Multiple Partners group reported the highest numbers of partners and relatively consistent condom use. 

Risk factors predicted profile groups directly and indirectly through psychosocial mechanisms. Impulsivity mediated the association between community disadvantage and membership in the risk-taking group. Negative relational schemas mediated the associations of childhood experiences and community disadvantage with membership in the multiple partners group. 

Specificity in pathways suggests the need for targeted interventions based on multidimensional characterizations of risk behavior.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/mEa3c0

  

By:   Steven M. Kogan,, Junhan Cho, Stacey Barnum, Allen Barton, Megan R. Hicks, Geoffrey L. Brown

Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia 

  

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

And: http://twitter.com/Prison_Health

Mortality in American Hip-Hop and Rap Recording Artists, 1987-2014

BACKGROUND:

The deaths of American hip-hop and rap recording artists often receive considerable media attention. However, these artists' deaths have not been examined as a distinct group like the deaths of rock, classical, jazz, and pop music artists. This is a seminal epidemiological analysis on the deaths of an understudied group, American hip-hop and rap music recording artists.

METHODS:

Media reports were analyzed of the deaths of American hip-hop and rap music recording artists that occurred from January 1, 1987 to December 31, 2014. The decedents' age, sex, race, cause of death, stage names, and city and state of death were recorded for analysis.

RESULTS:

The most commonly reported cause of death was homicide. The 280 deaths were categorized as homicide (55%), unintentional injury (13%), cardiovascular (7%), undetermined/undisclosed (7%), cancer (6%), other (5%), suicide (4%), and infectious disease (3%). The mean reported age at death was 30 yrs (range 15-75) and the median was 29 yrs; 97% were male and 92% were black. All but one of the homicides were committed with firearms.

CONCLUSIONS:

Homicide was the most commonly reported cause of death. Public health focus and guidance for hip-hop and rap recording artists should mirror that for African-American men and adolescent males ages 15-54 yrs, for whom the leading causes of death are homicide, unintentional injury, and heart disease. Given the preponderance of homicide deaths in this analysis, premature mortality reduction efforts should focus on violence prevention and conflict mitigation.

Purchase full article at:   https://goo.gl/4zlfCz

By:  Lawson CJ1.

• 1Detroit, MI, USA. GlobalLawson@gmail.com. 

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

And:        http://twitter.com/Prison_Health

Correlates of Requesting Home HIV Self-Testing Kits on Online Social Networks among African-American & Latino Men Who Have Sex With Men

High levels of HIV stigma are one of the main difficulties in engaging African-American and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) in HIV testing. The availability of home HIV test and the possibility of self-testing in private may improve uptake and counteract stigma. This paper sought to determine the correlates of requesting home HIV test kits among a sample of MSM social media users. 

The odds of participants requesting a test kit were significantly associated with using social networks to seek sexual partners (aOR: 2.47, 95% CI: 1.07-6.06) and thinking it is easier to use social networks for seeking sexual partners (1.87, 1.2-3.12), uncertain HIV status (4.29, 1.37-14.4), and having sex under the influence of alcohol (2.46, 1.06-5.77). Participants who had not been tested for more than 6 months were more likely to request a test kit than those who were tested in the past 6 months (2.53, 1.02-6.37). Participants who frequently talked to others about having sex with men online were less likely to request a test kit (0.73, 0.56-0.92). 

By reaching people over social media and offering them access to test kits, we were able to reach at-risk individuals who were uncertain about their HIV status and had not been regularly tested. The findings of the study will help to inform future HIV testing interventions.

Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/mcgzgM

By: Chiu CJ1, Young SD1.

1a Department of Family Medicine , University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) , Los Angeles , CA , USA

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

If You Are Not Counted, You Don't Count: Estimating the Number of African-American Men Who Have Sex with Men in San Francisco Using a Novel Bayesian Approach

African-American men who have sex with men (AA MSM) have been disproportionately infected with and affected by HIV and other STIs in San Francisco and the USA. The true scope and scale of the HIV epidemic in this population has not been quantified, in part because the size of this population remains unknown. 

We used the successive sampling population size estimation (SS-PSE) method, a new Bayesian approach to population size estimation that incorporates network size data routinely collected in respondent-driven sampling (RDS) studies, to estimate the number of AA MSM in San Francisco. This method was applied to data from a 2009 RDS study of AA MSM. An estimate from a separate study of local AA MSM was used to model the prior distribution of the population size. Two-hundred and fifty-six AA MSM were included in the RDS survey. 

The estimated population size was 4917, using a flat prior estimated 1882 as a lower acceptable bound, and a large prior estimated 6762 as an acceptable upper bound. Point estimates from the SS-PSE were consistent with estimates from multiplier methods using external data. 

The SS-PSE method is easily integrated into RDS studies and therefore provides a simple and appealing tool to rapidly produce estimates of the size of key populations otherwise difficult to reach and enumerate.

Via: http://goo.gl/Zsz798 Purchase full article at: http://goo.gl/OfwN73

By: Wesson P1, Handcock MS2, McFarland W3, Raymond HF3.

• 1University of California, Berkeley, 101 Haviland Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7358, USA
• 2University of California, Los Angeles, 8125 Mathematical Sciences Building, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1554, USA.
• 3San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Ave, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA, 94102, USA.

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight