"I Feel Almost as Though I've Lived This Before": Insights from Sexual and Gender Minority Men on Coping with COVID-19. AIDS Behav 2021 Jan;25(1):1-8
Date
09/13/2020Pubmed ID
32918640Pubmed Central ID
PMC7486587DOI
10.1007/s10461-020-03036-4Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85090833719 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 35 CitationsAbstract
As communities struggle with how to cope with the health and social consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), sexual and gender minority men living with or affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic have important insights into how to cope with uncertainty, public health protocols, and grief. We recruited sexual and gender minority men using online networking apps from April 18-24, 2020 to enroll a longitudinal cohort. We analyzed baseline qualitative data from open-ended responses using content analysis to examine how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has helped sexual minority men with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 437 participants who completed the survey, 155 (35%) indicated that HIV/AIDS had helped them cope with COVID-19. Free-response data from those 135 of those participants clustered around four themes: (1) experience having lived through a pandemic, (2) experience coping with stigma, (3) familiarity with public health protocols, and (4) belief in collective action. Based on the experiences of these men, public health approaches centered on resilience and collective action could be particularly helpful in responding and coping with COVID-19-especially if the pandemic persists over longer periods of time.
Author List
Quinn KG, Walsh JL, John SA, Nyitray AGAuthors
Steven A. John PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinAlan Nyitray PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Katherine Quinn PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Jennifer L. Walsh PhD Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Adaptation, PsychologicalAdult
Aged
Female
HIV Infections
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Sexual Behavior
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Social Stigma
