Browsing by Author "Messer, Lynne"

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, governmental authorities across the country have attempted to legislate the behavior of HIV-positive individuals. North Carolina's HIV Control Measures--administrative regulations promulgated by the North Carolina Commission for Public Health--exemplify this type of legislative endeavor. The North Carolina Legislature gave the North Carolina Commission for Public Health statutory authority to promulgate control measures for HIV/AIDS. The resulting HIV Control Measures ("control measures") are rules that govern the actions of HIV-positive individuals, their physicians, their partners, and state health officials that are meant to limit the spread of the disease. While these control measures were implemented to accomplish legitimate public health objectives, there is very little research evaluating the extent to which they have fulfilled, or failed to fulfill, these goals.

This project represents the beginning of an exploration of the ways that the control measures affect the behavior of HIV-positive individuals in North Carolina. This study used a combination of qualitative interviews, legal research, and document review to better understand the on-the-ground implementation of the control measures and the ways that they affect the public health of both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected individuals in the state. The results of the study include a consideration of the positive duties required of HIV-infected individuals under the control measures. Additional themes, such as recent scientific data on HIV treatment and the effect of the Internet on HIV generally, are also explored. Finally, overall thematic conclusions are offered and suggestions for subsequent explorations are presented.

This cross-cultural study investigates the challenges affecting HIV+ women in rural Kenya and Durham, North Carolina. Examining the linkages between social support and coping, the study finds that many experiences with social support and coping are shared across countries, despite differences in education, occupation status, and cultural identities. Age, education, and employment status were not found to be statistically significant determinants of total COPE or treatment-specific social support scores for either population. Religion was a recurring theme in both contexts, both in the quantitative and qualitative sets of data. It was a statistically significant determinant of total treatment-specific social support and also mentioned many times throughout the interviews as a preferred coping method. Most of the women expressed that support from their family and friends as well as health professionals helped them to positively cope with their disease and gave them hope for prolonged life.