AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

Emotional distress in African American Women with HIV

Abstract

African American women are the group most heavily afflicted with heterosexually transmitted HIV. The southeastern United States suffers a disproportionate degree of this burden. The purpose of this study was to present the psychometric testing of the HIV Risk Behavior Questionnaire, which was designed and tested for use in this population. The instrument, initially comprised of 32 items, was screened for face validity by experts in the field. This resulted in a revised 28-item instrument. Internal consistency was tested in 74 subjects and yielded Cronbach's a of 0.74. High interitem correlations coupled with similarity between the items resulted in the elimination of three additional items.

Emotional distress in African American Women with HIV

Introduction

Behaviors that place one at risk of contracting HIV have long been known. The focus of a large proportion of HIV prevention programs encompasses barrier techniques and avoidance of high-risk sexual behaviors. Condom use in the context of oral, anal, and vaginal sex has proved to be an effective modality for the prevention of HIV disease and is the cornerstone of any disease prevention strategy. Additionally, avoiding high-risk behaviors such as unprotected anal, vaginal, or oral sex is important. This has become the common modality for HIV prevention.

Problem and Purpose

It is clear that many social variables, some of which are more common in the African American community, play a prominent role in the likelihood that a woman will engage in high-risk sexual behaviors. One of the primary purposes of this study was to develop a global operational definition of factors that increase the likelihood of high-risk sexual behaviors. By providing a way to measure some of the social variables involved in sexual interactions, it will offer a comprehensive way to categorize African American women's level of risk.

Review of Literature and definitions

Face validity was established by providing eight experts in HIV care and risk with an early copy of the HIVRBQ that contained 32 items and the objectives of the instrument. All were HIV care providers who regularly provide care to economically challenged populations of African American women in the context of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. The providers were asked to make comments regarding each item. Specifically, they were asked to comment on existing items, suggest new items, or suggest deletion of old items. Seven questionnaires with comments attached were received, with one expert failing to respond. The comments were then used to formulate the final 28-item version of the questionnaire.

Hypotheses

Initial reliability was performed on the 28-item version of the questionnaire using a nonprobability convenience sample of 76 women. This was done to establish baseline reliability and examine the interaction of the questionnaire's items before larger scale administration. Initial Cronbach's a for the scale was 0.81, reflecting good initial internal consistency. Interitem correlations were then examined to determine if any items reflected measurement of similar variables. It was desirable to identify these variables early in the process to limit any redundancy in the ...