Do Social Support, Stress, Disclosure and Stigma Influence Retention in HIV Care for Latino and African American Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women?

Limited research has examined the role that social support, stress, stigma and HIV disclosure play in retention in HIV care for African Americans and Latinos. Among 398 Latino and African American men who have sex with men (MSM) and women, the major predictor of retention in HIV care was disclosure of HIV status to more social network members (OR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.9). Among those who had disclosed (n = 334), female gender (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.1) and disclosure of HIV status to more network members (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.9) was associated with retention in HIV care. General stress was associated with retention in care (OR = 1.2; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.3) for African American MSM who had disclosed. More MSM-stigma was associated with poorer retention (OR = 0.9; 95% CI: 0.8, 0.9) for Latino MSM. Interventions that help patients safely disclose their HIV status to more social network members may improve HIV care retention as would social network counseling for Latino MSM to reduce MSM-stigma.