Abstract
This research explored Cape Verdean community advocates’ understandings of the structural and social realities that contribute to the increased HIV/AIDS risk of Northeastern U.S.-based immigrant Cape Verdean women. A community perspective informed the analysis of the multi-layered contextual barriers that these advocates identified as limiting the effectiveness of individual-level HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention models. Qualitative content analysis of interviews with nine community advocates revealed several thematic clusters including challenges to (1) perceived institutional and community realities; (2) traditional gender relations; and, (3) traditional ways of thinking. These findings challenge universalist cognitive-behavioral change models of HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention and are critically discussed to better understand the complex realities faced by Cape Verdean immigrant women. A liberatory community psychology perspective framed the research process and contributed to reconceptualizing HIV/AIDS risk as a community problem that requires interventions not simply at the individual and relational levels, but also at the structural level.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alves, M., Leite, J. & Soares, J. (1995). A knowledge, attitudes, and behavior study of Cape Verdean women in Dorchester/Roxbury, Massachusetts. Unpublished study, Boston Department of Health and Hospitals.
Amaro, H. (1995). Love, sex, and power: Considering women’s realities in HIV prevention. American Psychologist, 50, 437–447.
Amaro, H., & Raj, A. (2000). On the margin: Power and women’s HIV risk reduction strategies. Sex Roles, 42(7/8), 723–749.
Bailyn, B. (1955). The New England merchants in the seventeenth century. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Becker, M. H. (1974). The Health Belief Model and personal health behavior. Thorofare, NJ, Charles B. Slack.
Becker, M., & Joseph, J. (1988). AIDS and behavioral change to avoid risk: A review. American Journal of Public Health, 78, 384–410.
Bernard, H. R. (2000). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Carling, J. (2002). Cape Verde: Towards the end of emigration? Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved on March 16, 2005 from http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/print.cfm?ID = 68.
Catania, J. A., Kegeles, S. M., & Coates, T. J. (1992). Toward an understanding of risk behavior: An AIDS risk reduction model (ARRM). Health Education Quarterly, 17, 53–72.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2003). Fact Sheet—HIV/AIDS among women. Retrieved on April 29, 2004 from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats.html.
Diaz, T., Chu, S. Y., & Buehler, J. W. (1994). Socioeconomic differences among people with AIDS: Results from a multistate surveillance project. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 10, 217–222.
Dolcini, M. M., Catania, J. A., & Coates, T. J. (1993). Demographic characteristics of heterosexuals with multiple partners: The national AIDS behavioral surveys. Family Planning Perspectives, 25, 208–214.
Downe-Wamboldt, B. (1992). Content analysis: Method, applications, and issues. Health Care for Women International, 13, 313–321.
Fernández, M. I. (1995). Latinas and AIDS: Challenges to HIV prevention efforts. In A. O’Leary & L. Jemmot (Eds.), Women at risk: Issues in the primary prevention of AIDS. New York, Plenum, pp. 159–174.
Halter, M. (1993). Between race and ethnicity: Cape Verdean American immigrants: 1880–1965. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.
Haney, W., & Lykes, M. B. (2000). Practice, participatory research and creative research designs: The continuing evolution of ethical guidelines for research. In F. Sherman & B. Torbert (Eds.), Transforming social inquiry, transforming social action: New paradigms for crossing the theory/practice divide in universities and communities. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Hohman, E. P. (1928). The American whalemen: A study of life and labor in the whaling industry. New York, Longmans Green.
Huygens, I. (1997). Towards social change partnerships: Responding to empowerment of oppressed groups with voluntary depowerment of dominant groups. Paper presented at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action, Columbia, South Carolina.
Irwin, A., Millen, J., & Fallows, D. (2003). Global AIDS: Myths and facts, tools for fighting the AIDS pandemic. Cambridge, MA, South End Press.
Keating, D. P., & Hertzman, C. (1999). Modernity’s paradox. In D. Keating & C. Hertzman (Eds.), Developmental health and the wealth of nations (pp. 1–17). New York: Guilford.
Luborsky, M. R. (1994). The identification and analysis of themes and patterns. In J. F. Gubrium & Sankar A. (Eds.) Qualitative methods in aging research. Thousand Oaks, Sage.
Lykes, M. B. (1989). Dialogue with Guatemalan Indian women: Critical perspectives on constructing collaborative research. In R. K. Unger (Ed.), Representations: Social constructions of gender (pp. 167–185). New York, Baywood Publishing.
Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. In A. Aron & S. Corne (Eds., Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Morgan, D. L. (1993). Qualitative content analysis: A guide to paths not taken. Qualitative Health Research, 3, 112–121.
Nelson, G., & Prilleltensky, I. (2005). Community psychology: In pursuit of liberation and well-being. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Ortiz-Torres, B., Serrano-García, I. & Torres-Burgos, N. (2000). Subverting culture: Promoting HIV/AIDS prevention among Puerto Rican and Dominican women. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28(6), 859–881.
Pulerwitz, J, Amaro, H, DeJong, W, Gortmaker, S. L, & Rudd, R. (2002). Relationship power, condom use, and HIV risk among women in the U.S. AIDS Care, 14(6), 789–800.
Prochaska, J., DiClemente, C., & Norcross, J. (1992). In search of how people change. American Psychologist, 47, 1102–1114.
Rappaport, J. (2000). Community narratives: Tales of terror and joy. America Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 1–24.
Rosenstock, I. M., Stretcher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1994). The health belief model and HIV risk behavior change. In R. J. DiClemente (Ed.). Preventing AIDS: Theories and methods of behavioral interventions. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Ryan, W. (1971). Blaming the victim. New York: Vintage Books.
Sandelowski, M. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing and Health, 23, 334–340.
Soares, J. (2004). Major differences in HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Portuguese speakers from Brazil, Portugal, and Cape Verde in Massachusetts: A health policy analysis. Unpublished Master’s thesis, The University of Massachusetts School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
Sobo, E. J. (1993). Inner-city women and AIDS: The psycho-social benefits of unsafe sex. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 17, 455–485.
UNAIDS (2004). AIDS Epidemic Update 2004. Retrieved on February 1, 2005 from www.unaids.org/wad2004/report.html.
U.S. Census Bureau (2004). Retrieved on February 1, 2005 from http://www.census.gov/.
Varas-Díaz, N., & Serrano-García, I. (2003). The challenge of a positive self-image in a colonial context: A psychology of liberation for the Puerto Rican experience. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1/2), 103–115.
Weber, R. (1985). Basic content analysis (2nd ed.). London, Sage.
Zinn, M. B. (1979). Field research in minority communities: Ethical, methodological and political observations by an insider. Social Problems, 27(2), 209–219.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Jesus, M. HIV/AIDS and immigrant Cape Verdean women: Contextualized perspectives of Cape Verdean community advocates. Am J Community Psychol 39, 121–131 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9091-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9091-6