Social Relations & Caregiving

Over half the HIV population in the United States is age 50 or older. Despite successful long-term management of HIV/AIDS, older people with HIV often live with multiple age-related comorbidities, 4+ non-HIV conditions on average. Black and Latina women, in addition to being disproportionately affected by HIV, typically have higher rates of multimorbidity. As a result, many women living with HIV (WLWH) require informal caregiving or can anticipate needing care in the future to support complex care needs.

Older women are an understudied group, as most HIV research targets men and younger people. Because older women of color living with HIV have intersectional marginalized identities, they often experience difficulty in meeting their needs for caregiving and support. The configuration of older WLWH’s care networks; the networks’ effectiveness in meeting older WLWH’s care needs; and the networks’ links to mental and behavioral health are major gaps in the HIV/AIDS literature. Similarly, there is limited understanding of the evolution of care needs and informal care networks in tandem over time, as well as the factors that shape both in this population.

This mixed-methods research will use survey and interview data to investigate the adequacy of older WLWH’s care networks. This research also lays the groundwork for a long-term research agenda aimed at better understanding of the mechanisms whereby informal care networks operate across different populations of people with HIV, and how to better support these individuals, reduce health disparities, and promote healthy aging through the development of targeted interventions.

Dr. Jasmine Manalel, senior research associate, is the principal investigator on this study, which is funded by a K01 career development award from the National Institute on Aging.