A Cross Cultural Perspective of Adherence for Racial/Ethnic Minority Women with HIV, Living in the United States

HIV persists as a global public health tragedy, as more than 36 million lives have been lost to HIV/AIDS. A diagnosis of HIV can be treated as a chronic disease, for those who adhere to their medication regimens and other health recommendations. However, for racial/ethnic minorities living in the United States, many of whom face a multitude of barriers, adherence to medications and medical appointments can be a challenge. For racial/ethnic minority women, specifically, gender roles, HIV stigma, racism, inconsistent access to healthcare, financial and food insecurity are just a few of the barriers they experience, which may interfere with their ability to adhere to medical treatment. For immigrant women, low language literacy, which is linked to health literacy, may further exacerbate these lives where staff and services provide culturally and linguistically competent services. This paper reports parts of a larger mixed-methods inquiry. The goal is part of larger study to develop an intervention for racial/ethnic minority women with HIV, living in the Southeastern region of the United States