Exploring barriers to HIV prevention among Latinos
New grant funds study of Spanish speakers in Houston
Higinio Fernández-Sánchez, PhD, RN, will bring his research of HIV prevention among Spanish-speaking migrants close to home with a new grant from the Texas Development Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR).
“Hispanic and migrant communities in the U.S. experience a disproportionate burden of HIV, with lower engagement in prevention strategies and reduced HIV knowledge and risk perception,” said Fernández-Sánchez, an assistant professor at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston.
Last year, he received a small grant from UTHealth Houston’s Office of Global Initiatives that enabled him to conduct ethnographic interviews in shelters along four key migration routes in Mexico to gather data about the migrants’ preferences and barriers to HIV prevention, as well as human trafficking and violence risks.
With the $50,000 D-CFAR award, he will work with Houston’s Fundación Latino Americana de Acción Social (FLAS). The organization has provided testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as other support services in Houston for more than 30 years.
The pilot study, “HIV/STI prevention among Spanish-speaking migrants in Houston, Texas,” will look at HIV prevention-related factors. Fernández-Sánchez will use a Spanish-language survey to assess HIV knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes. He will then conduct group conversations with a subset of 20 participants at events that will offer additional services provided by FLAS.
“Insights from this study will guide the design of culturally and structurally informed interventions aimed at reducing health disparities and improving HIV prevention among this highly marginalized population,” Fernández-Sánchez said.
