Trends and predictors of HIV-positive community attachment among PLWHA

Abstract

Communities most affected by HIV/AIDS have been instrumental in shaping Australia's responses to the threat of the epidemic. There are recent signs that levels of engagement in communities based around HIV-positivity have changed: a diminished sense of an AIDS crisis, the relative success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and an increasing individualization of the HIV experience may be contributing to changes in the way HIV-community is experienced. In this paper, we explore levels of engagement in HIV-positive community among a cohort of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and seek to explain why some PLWHA engage in an HIV-positive community while others do not. Using multivariate logistic regression, we found that three factors were independently related to feeling part of an HIV-positive community: having been diagnosed with HIV prior to the advent of HAART; having more recently taken Bactrim or Septrin for PCP; and finding it easier to take ‘pills’ on time. Taken together, these results suggest that both historical effects, such as the introduction of HAART, and effects related to living with HIV, such as the experience of an AIDS-related illness, help explain HIV-positive community engagement among PLWHA.