AIDS 2012 Oral Abstract Session

1. AIDS 2012 Oral Abstract Session Gender: Reducing Vulnerability and Reinforcing Empowerment Opportunities Correlates of Critical Consciousness in African American Women with and at-risk for HIV June 25, 2012 Gwendolyn Kelso, MA1, Ruth C. Cruise, MA1, Sannisha Dale, MA, EdM,1Kathleen Weber, RN, BSN,2 Mardge Cohen, MD2, Leslie R. Brody, PhD1 1Boston University Psychology Department, Boston, MA 2Cook County Health & Hospital Systems, Chicago, IL

2. Critical Consciousness Capacity to critically reflect and act upon one’s sociopolitical environment1

3. African American Women: Vulnerability Racial disparities in HIV infection and mortality2, 3 Structural factors create vulnerability4 - Racial and gender discrimination relate to illicit drug use and depression5-7 Illicit drug use, depression, race and HIV-related health outcomes8-10

4. African American Women:Empowerment Critical Consciousness: capacity to critically reflect and act upon sociopolitical environment1 - Empowerment - Individual coping11 - Social change Related to: - Education12, 13 - Decreased likelihood of smoking cigarettes12 - Longevity14 - Physical and mental well-being15 - Commitment to career and future16

5. PresentStudy Among African American women with and at risk for HIV: - What demographic characteristics are associated with critical consciousness? - How does perceived discrimination relate to critical consciousness? Does critical consciousness and perceived discrimination differ by HIV status?

6. Participants • Recruited from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), Chicago site • 73 HIV+, 25 HIV- demographically-matched African American women • Mean age 45 (SD = 9.42) • 44% grades 7-11, 33% grade 12, 22% college • 38% ≤$6,000, 30% $6,001 - 12,000 • 21% employed

7. Modified Detroit Area Study - Discrimination Scale17 30 items, rated on a scale from 1 to 5 “You are treated with less courtesy than other people.” “How much do you think your race had to do with this?” “How much do you think your gender had to do with this?”

8. Critical Consciousness13 Four dimensions, 20 items, 1 to 5 scale Identification with African American women Power discontentwith the distribution of social power of different groups Rejection of system legitimacy: attributions of social problems to system causes Collective action orientation: joining with others to work towards change Indicator of critical consciousness: “How much do you think that political and social change is necessary for women/African Americans?”

9. Results • No differences by HIV status • HIV-negative women, M = 4.38, SD = .71, endorsed greater need for social and political change on behalf of African Americans than HIV-positive women, M = 3.82, SD = 1.09, t (94) = 2.33, p <.05

10. Conclusions Among African American women with and at risk for HIV: - Older age, education, and employment related to higher critical consciousness - HIV-negative women endorsed greater belief in political & social change on behalf of African Americans - Critical consciousness positively related to perceived gender and racial discrimination Future research should examine: - the direction of these relationships - critical consciousness in relation to health outcomes

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