title: Resilience as a research framework and as a cornerstone of prevention research for gay and bisexual men: theory and evidence.
abstract: This commentary presents the content and results of a recent symposium held to discuss how resiliencies among gay and bisexual men, and other men who have sex with men, could inform HIV prevention interventions. We outline the argument for including resiliencies in prevention work and present a critique of the deficit-based approached to public health research as it applies to this line of inquiry. The commentary makes the case that HIV prevention work would be more efficacious if it were designed to incorporate naturally occurring resiliencies that manifest among gay male communities rather than primarily using interventions that address vulnerabilities among men who continue to reside in high risk contexts. The commentary concludes by listing a set of resiliency variables and constructs proposed at the meeting that could be tested in theoretically-based investigations to raise resiliencies among gay and bisexual men thereby lowering HIV risks in this population.
authors: Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, alh75@pitt.edu.
authors: Amy L
authors: AL
authors: Herrick
authors: Ron
authors: R
authors: Stall
authors: Hilary
authors: H
authors: Goldhammer
authors: James E
authors: JE
authors: Egan
authors: Kenneth H
authors: KH
authors: Mayer
mesh_terms: D035841:Behavioral Research; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000592:standards; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D015980:Public Health Practice; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior