NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ823440
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1090-1981
EISSN: N/A
Gay Couples, Gay Communities, and HIV: Challenges for Health Education
Reece, Michael
Health Education & Behavior, v32 n2 p172-174 2005
For the last 2 decades, researchers and practitioners dedicated to improving the health of gay and bisexual men have largely focused their work on the need to reduce the incidence of HIV infection. This is certainly warranted given the intensity of this particular epidemic in the gay community and the challenges it has presented to the nation's public health and social service systems. The perspective offered by Fergus, Lewis, Darbes, and Butterfield (2005) is a prime example of work that maintains a focus on HIV and the need to reduce its incidence, but one that also attempts to understand behavioral correlates of infection within a social context. Although their study offers insights into issues specific to gay couples, it simultaneously brings into focus the challenging nature of this issue for the health education profession. The authors make the suggestion that there may be a need for increased intervention at the community level, and there are certainly HIV educators who have already started to incorporate behavioral strategies such as negotiated safety into their interventions. In this article, the author contends that maybe people should also consider whether they simultaneously have a role to play in reducing the social prejudices that keep gay men and their cultural norms subscribed to only those venues that are identified as gay as people continue to move forward in the fight against health issues like HIV and others that affect this community.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A