Examining the family networks of HIV+ women in drug recovery: Research challenges and opportunities

Author(s)

V.B. Mitrani
N.S. Weiss-Laxer
C. Ow
Myron J. Burns, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
S. Ross
D.J. Feaster

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Families, Systems, and Health

ISSN

0014-7370

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is recognized as affecting and being affected by the family. HIV+ women in drug recovery and their families are particularly at risk due to family disruption and stigma. Yet family research with HIV+ adults is hampered by the challenges of defining the family, engaging family members into research, and tracking changes in family composition. In this paper we describe the family context of 144 HIV+ women in drug abuse recovery who are enrolled in a randomized trial of a family intervention to improve medication adherence and reduce relapse. “Family” was defined to include the women’s household members, romantic partners, children and their caregivers, and others identified as a major source of support. The women reported on a total of 651 family members. We describe the family and household networks, romantic partnerships and parenting arrangements of our participants. We also describe the engagement rate of family member enrollment in the research study, and the stability of romantic partnerships, parenting and living arrangements over one year. We conclude with methodological implications for future family-based clinical research with HIV+ adults.

DOI

10.1037/a0017116

Volume

27

Issue

3

First Page

267

Last Page

283

NSUWorks Citation

Mitrani, V., Weiss-Laxer, N., Ow, C., Burns, M. J., Ross, S., Feaster, D. (2009). Examining the family networks of HIV+ women in drug recovery: Research challenges and opportunities. Families, Systems, and Health, 27(3), 267-283.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1072