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HIV/AIDS and immigrant Cape Verdean women: Contextualized perspectives of Cape Verdean community advocates
Author(s) -
De Jesus Maria
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/s10464-007-9091-6
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , health psychology , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , sociology , immigration , cape , qualitative research , gender studies , social psychology , psychology , public health , criminology , political science , medicine , social science , nursing , psychiatry , law
This research explored Cape Verdean community advocates' understandings of the structural and social realities that contribute to the increased HIV/AIDS risk of Northeastern U.S.‐based immigrant Cape Verdean women. A community perspective informed the analysis of the multi‐layered contextual barriers that these advocates identified as limiting the effectiveness of individual‐level HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention models. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with nine community advocates revealed several thematic clusters including challenges to (1) perceived institutional and community realities; (2) traditional gender relations; and, (3) traditional ways of thinking. These findings challenge universalist cognitive‐behavioral change models of HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention and are critically discussed to better understand the complex realities faced by Cape Verdean immigrant women. A liberatory community psychology perspective framed the research process and contributed to reconceptualizing HIV/AIDS risk as a community problem that requires interventions not simply at the individual and relational levels, but also at the structural level.