Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12;11(1):172 (abstract no. Mo.D.1690). Unique
Objectives: To determine the personal and sociocultural factors related
to HIV transmission in selected ethnocultural communities. Methods: This
national multi-center study was built on a participatory model, in which
representatives of the communities being studied collaborated with the
research team to make decisions about the design and implementation of
the research. Two theoretical models were used: at the macro level, the
sociocultural model of health behaviour adapted from Kleinman and, at
the micro level, the social-psychological model of interpersonal
behaviour and behaviour change developed by Triandis. Phase I of this
study involved audits of relevant community organizations and secondary
analysis of public health data to identify six groups to participate in
phase II of the study. In phase II, 80 in-depth interviews were
conducted and 374 persons participated in 54 focus groups, held in 7
different languages. In phase III, a survey was carried out on condom
use in three of the groups; 1059 subjects were used in the analysis.
Results: The six communities asked to participate in Phase II of the
study were the Latin-American, the Arabic speaking, English speaking
Caribbean, Chinese, South-Asian communities, and communities from the
Horn of Africa. Some of the issues that affect risk in these communities
are: the immigration process, leading to isolation and emotional
vulnerability; community attitudes towards sexuality or injection drug
use; relationships and roles for women and men; community politics;
denial; perceived threat to traditional values; parent/child
relationships; and religion. Based upon phase III survey data, the
variables that make individuals from Latin-American, English speaking
Caribbean, and South-Asian communities most likely to plan to use
condoms in a new sexual relationship are: setting the use of a condom as
a personal standard, believing there are few barriers for condom use and
believing that using condoms coincides with community norms.
Conclusions: The multi-method approach of this study allowed a balancing
of the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods. The data
provided much needed information on a wide range of vulnerable attitudes
and high-risk situations related to HIV infection and transmission in
Canadian ethnocultural communities.
*HIV Infections/TRANSMISSION