Conspiracy Beliefs About HIV Are Related to Antiretroviral Treatment Nonadherence Among African American Men With HIV
- 15 April 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wolters Kluwer Health in JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
- Vol. 53 (5), 648-655
- https://doi.org/10.1097/qai.0b013e3181c57dbc
Abstract
Background: Medical mistrust is prevalent among African Americans and may influence health care behaviors such as treatment adherence. We examined whether a specific form of medical mistrust-HIV conspiracy beliefs (eg, HIV is genocide against African Americans)-was associated with antiretroviral treatment nonadherence among African American men with HIV. Methods: On baseline surveys, 214 African American men with HIV reported their agreement with 9 conspiracy beliefs, sociodemographic characteristics, depression symptoms, substance use, disease characteristics, medical mistrust, and health care barriers. Antiretroviral medication adherence was monitored electronically for one month postbaseline among 177 men in the baseline sample. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed 2 distinct conspiracy belief subscales: genocidal beliefs (eg, HIV is manmade) and treatment-related beliefs (eg, people who take antiretroviral treatments are human guinea pigs for the government). Both subscales were related to nonadherence in bivariate tests. In a multivariate logistic regression, only treatment-related conspiracies were associated with a lower likelihood of optimal adherence at one-month follow-up (odds ratio = 0.60, 95% confidence interval = 0.37 to 0.96, P < 0.05). Conclusions: HIV conspiracy beliefs, especially those related to treatment mistrust, can contribute to health disparities by discouraging appropriate treatment behavior. Adherence-promoting interventions targeting African Americans should openly address such beliefs.Keywords
This publication has 75 references indexed in Scilit:
- Missed Visits and Mortality among Patients Establishing Initial Outpatient HIV TreatmentClinical Infectious Diseases, 2009
- Disparities in Reported Reasons for Not Initiating or Stopping Antiretroviral Treatment Among a Diverse Sample of Persons Living with HIVJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2008
- Racial/ethnic differences in breast cancer outcomes among older patients: Effects of physician communication and patient empowerment.Health Psychology, 2008
- Perceived Discrimination in Health Care and Health Status in a Racially Diverse SampleMedical Care, 2008
- Conspiracy Beliefs about HIV Infection Are Common But Not Associated with Delayed Diagnosis or Adherence to CareAIDS Patient Care and STDs, 2008
- Evaluation of an HIV Prevention Intervention Adapted for Black Men Who Have Sex With MenAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2008
- Differences in the Patterns of Health Care System Distrust Between Blacks and WhitesJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2008
- Beliefs About Treatments for HIV/AIDS and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Men Who have Sex with Men, 1997–2006Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2007
- Racial/Ethnic and Age Disparities in HIV Prevalence and Disease Progression Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United StatesAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2007
- The Application of Electronic Computers to Factor AnalysisEducational and Psychological Measurement, 1960