Are African American women worried about getting AIDS? A qualitative analysis

The aims of this study were to explore and describe AIDS-related worry among African American women and determine whether AIDS risk behaviors were associated with women's AIDS-related worry status. Of 142 women interviewed, 36% (n = 51) expressed some worry about getting AIDS, compared to 64% (n = 91) who did not express worry. In general, both worried and nonworried women were equally likely to report risk behaviors such as no condom use or having risky sexual partners and no significant relationships were found between worry status and self-reported HIV/AIDS risk behaviors. Women gave several reasons for why they did or did not feel worried about getting AIDS. For example, 23% of worried women responded that they were worried about getting AIDS because of the uncertainty of their sex partners' risk behaviors. This contrasted strongly with the nonworried women, 10% of whom reported trusting their partners and 64% of whom reported engaging in some type of protective behavior. Results indicate that regardless of worry status, women were not protecting themselves by using condoms or using careful partner selection. Therefore we recommend that future HIV/AIDS educational intervention programs appeal to and encourage participation for all women whether or not they express concern about contracting the disease. In addition, programs must carefully address the issue of denial, and provide skills for assessing and modifying risky behaviors.