Migration and HIV risk: life histories of Mexican-born men living with HIV in North Carolina |
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| Authors: | Lilli Mann Erik Valera Lisa B. Hightow-Weidman Clare Barrington |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, USAlmann@wakehealth.edu;3. Latino Commission on AIDS, New York, USA;4. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA;5. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA |
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| Abstract: | Latino men in the Southeastern USA are disproportionately affected by HIV, but little is known about how the migration process influences HIV-related risk. In North Carolina, a relatively new immigrant destination, Latino men are predominantly young and from Mexico. We conducted 31 iterative life history interviews with 15 Mexican-born men living with HIV. We used holistic content narrative analysis methods to examine HIV vulnerability in the context of migration and to identify important turning points. Major themes included the prominence of traumatic early-life experiences, migration as an ongoing process rather than a finite event, and HIV diagnosis as a final turning point in migration trajectories. Findings provide a nuanced understanding of HIV vulnerability throughout the migration process and have implications including the need for bi-national HIV-prevention approaches, improved outreach around early testing and linkage to care, and attention to mental health. |
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| Keywords: | HIV prevention migrant men life history narrative analysis USA |
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