Family and HIV/AIDS: Cultural and Contextual Issues in Prevention and Treatment

Three decades into the HIV pandemic, the goals remain clear: reduce the number of infections,improve the health outcomes of those who are infected, and eliminate disparities in care. And one observation continues to gain credence: families are a powerful resource in preventing, adapting to, and coping with HIV.

Recognizing their complex role as educators, mentors, and caregivers, Family and HIV/AIDS assembles a wealth of findings from successful prevention and intervention strategies and provides models for translating evidence into effective real-world practice.

Chapters spotlight the differing roles of mothers and fathers in prevention efforts, clarify the need for family/community collaborations, and examine core issues of culture,ethnicity, gender, and diagnosis (e.g., minority families, adolescents with psychological disorders). Throughout, risk reduction and health promotion are shown as a viable public health strategy.

Among the topics covered:

• The family as the model for HIV prevention.
• The role of settings in family-based prevention of HIV/STDs.
• Couples-based HIV prevention and treatment.
• Parents as agents of HIV prevention for gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth.
• Promoting family-focused evidence-based practice in HIV/AIDS care.
• Families and HIV medical adherence.

A reference with considerable utility across the health, mental health, and related disciplines,Family and HIV/AIDS will be a go-to resource for practitioners working with families, researchers studying at-risk populations, administrators seeking to create new (or evaluate existing)prevention and care programs, and policymakers involved in funding such programs.