Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110436

Ross F. Conner, PhD¹, Eloy Ortiz, MA¹, and Lois Takahashi, PhD². (1) School of Social Ecology, Center for Community Health Research, University of California Irvine, Building SE 1, Irvine, CA 92697-7075, 949-824-6746, rfconner@uci.edu, (2) Department of Urban Planning, University of California Los Angeles, Box 951656, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656

Proyecto S.O.L.A.A.R. (Superacion, Orgullo y Lucha atraves de Amor en Relaciones; Empowerment, Pride and Struggle through Love in Relationships) used intensive retreats with small groups of Latino-culture gay/bisexual men to reduce HIV risk. The participants were primarily Spanish-speaking men born and raised in a Latino culture (mainly Mexico) but now living in the U.S. Due to the cultural realities of these men, who live with the pressures and mixed messages of two cultures (Latino and Anglo), the program creators developed an HIV-prevention program that focused less on HIV education and more on the cultural conflicts and misunderstandings these men face in establishing healthy dating and personal relationships, including minimizing HIV/AIDS risks. The program was evaluated using a treatment-comparison groups design, with pre-, post- and 6-month follow-up data collection on variables such as HIV risk behaviors, dating activities and self-esteem. This presentation will focus on the final study results from longitudinal data on 40 men. These results include reported reductions in HIV risk behaviors and improvements in dating and relationship behaviors; changes in self-concepts were more limited. The implications of the study findings will be discussed for future HIV prevention programming with Latino-culture gay/bisexual men, as well as for other culturally-based HIV prevention programs.

Learning Objectives: Learning objectives for session attendees

(
• understand Proyecto S.O.L.A.A.R.’s HIV prevention approach and how it was built upon the culturally-based understandings and misunderstandings of Latino gay/bisexual men; and (
• understand the primary effects of the S.O.L.A.A.R. program and the implications of these results for future programming.

Keywords: Gay Men, Latino

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commertial supporters WITH THE EXCEPTION OF Grant-funded research by the California Universitywide AIDS Research Program.