title: Health care and social service providers' observations on the intersection of HIV/AIDS and violence among their clients and patients.
abstract: Associations between HIV/AIDS and several forms of violence have been demonstrated in recent research. We conducted qualitative interviews with 30 providers who offered services related to HIV/AIDS or violence to identify specific manifestations of HIV/AIDS-violence intersections, factors that explain why HIV/AIDS and violence intersect in client/patient populations, and the theoretical salience of providers' narratives. Providers confirmed links between HIV/AIDS and violent victimization, and yielded new insights into crossover risk between HIV/AIDS and suicidality, nonsuicidal self-harm, and witnessing and perpetrating violence. We also isolated 20 explanatory factors, including substance use, poor mental health, sex work/trading sex, and sexual orientation/gender identity. Narratives were consistent with syndemics theory, indicating that HIV/AIDS and violence fueled each other's occurrence and magnified the health-related burden on affected client/patient populations, often under conditions of health and social disparity. Providers contribute a novel perspective on our understanding of HIV/AIDS-violence syndemics that shows promise in informing future interventions and practice.
authors: California State University, Fullerton, Department of Health Science, P.O. Box 6870, Fullerton, CA 92834-6870, USA. adistefano@fullerton.edu
authors: Anthony S
authors: AS
authors: DiStefano
authors: Reggie T
authors: RT
authors: Cayetano
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult