SEX, DRUGS & HIV: NURSING SCIENCE TO ACHIEVE AN AIDS-FREE GENERATION

In recent years, a series of groundbreaking randomized controlled trials demonstrated that expanded access to antiretroviral medications decreases rates of HIV infection and seroconversion.  Consequently, there is a renewed sense of optimism that we have the tools necessary to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic and achieve an AIDS-free generation.  In order to realize the full promise of these emerging biomedical treatment and prevention strategies, expanded efforts are necessary to address the needs of marginalized, underserved groups that experience profound HIV-related health disparities.  Nursing professionals have been at the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention efforts for more than three decades, and are uniquely positioned to develop combination HIV/AIDS prevention approaches to achieve health equity.

The co-occurrence of sexual risk taking and substance use remains an important driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Nursing science is needed to inform the development of novel, multi-level approaches to targeting these intertwined epidemics of HIV/AIDS and substance use. The overarching goal of this symposium is to examine factors associated with sexual risk taking and substance use behaviors in high risk populations to inform the development of novel approaches to HIV/AIDS nursing care. 

Informed by Syndemics Theory, we will present longitudinal findings linking physical and sexual violence to subsequent sexual and amphetamine type stimulant use behaviors in a cohort of young Cambodian women engaged in sex work.

A second presentation will examine theory-based psychosocial processes that support successful recovery in a substance abuse treatment outcome study with methamphetamine-using men who have sex with men. 

The final presentation will describe gender differences in the patterns of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substance use in a cohort of people living with HIV.

Taken together, these findings will inform efforts to develop and refine new approaches to optimize the benefits of antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS prevention.  Interventions are needed to target structural factors like gender-based violence and cultivate psychosocial processes that promote recovery from a substance use disorder.  Targeted intervention efforts are also needed to address gender-based differences in substance use in HIV-positive persons.