Caregivers' Support Network Characteristics Associated with Viral Suppression among HIV Care Recipients.
Informal care receipt is associated with health outcomes among people living with HIV. Less is known about how caregivers' own social support may affect their care recipient's health. We examined associations between network characteristics of informal caregivers and HIV viral suppression among former or current drug using care recipients. We analyzed data from 258 caregiver-recipient dyads from the Beacon study, of whom 89% of caregivers were African American and 59% were female. In adjusted logistic regression analysis, care recipients had lower odds of being virally suppressed if their caregiver was female, was caring for youth involved in the criminal justice system, and had network members who used illicit drugs. Caregivers' greater numbers of non-kin in their support network was positively associated with viral suppression among care recipients. The findings reveal contextual factors affecting ART outcomes and the need for interventions to support caregivers, especially HIV caregiving women with high-risk youth.
Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street E5032, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. juliedenison@jhu.edu.
Julie A
JA
Denison
Department of Health Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Mary M
MM
Mitchell
Formerly part of the Department of Health Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Allysha C
AC
Maragh-Bass
Department of Health Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Amy R
AR
Knowlton
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000451:nursing / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005791:Patient Care; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019562:Viral Load
Black/African American; HIV/AIDS; Informal HIV caregiving; Social support networks; Viral load suppression