1. Forging Resilience to HIV/AIDS: Personal Strengths of Middle-aged and Older Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men Living With HIV/AIDS
- Author
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Jenna Despres, Renato M. Liboro, Brandon Ranuschio, Lianne Barnes, and Sherry Bell
- Subjects
Male ,Gerontology ,Health (social science) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ,men who have sex with men ,Gay bisexual ,HIV Infections ,050109 social psychology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Men who have sex with men ,resilience to HIV/AIDS ,Sexual and Gender Minorities ,03 medical and health sciences ,Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) ,personal strengths ,medicine ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Homosexuality, Male ,Aged ,media_common ,Ontario ,middle-aged and older ,030505 public health ,05 social sciences ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,virus diseases ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,3. Good health ,Bisexuality ,community-based resources ,Medicine ,Original Article ,Psychological resilience ,0305 other medical science ,Psychology - Abstract
HIV-positive gay, bisexual, two-spirit, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have exhibited significant resilience to HIV/AIDS in Canada since the start of the epidemic. Since 2012, most of the research that has been conducted on resilience to HIV/AIDS has utilized quantitative methods and deficits-based approaches, with a preferential focus on the plight of young MSM. In order to address apparent gaps in research on HIV/AIDS resilience, we conducted a community-based participatory research qualitative study that utilized a strengths-based approach to examine the perspectives and lived experiences of HIV-positive, middle-aged and older MSM on their individual attributes that helped forge their HIV/AIDS resilience. We conducted 41 semistructured interviews with diverse, HIV-positive, middle-aged and older MSM from Central and Southwestern Ontario, Canada. From our thematic analysis of our interviews, we identified four themes, which represented personal strengths that fostered resilience to HIV/AIDS: (a) proactiveness, (b) perseverance, (c) having the right mindset, and (d) self-awareness with self-control. This article discusses the importance of these personal strengths to fostering HIV/AIDS resilience, and how community-based resources could potentially lessen the need to muster such personal strengths, or alternatively, cultivate them.
- Published
- 2021