Conspiracy Beliefs about HIV/AIDS among HIV-Positive African American Men and Women in Alabama's Black Belt: A Mixed-Method Analysis.

Abstract

Despite prior studies showing that a significant proportion of the general African-American population hold conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS, limited research has investigated conspiracy beliefs among African Americans that are HIV-positive and the subgroups most likely to endorse such beliefs. I examined endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs and their relationship to sociodemographic variables among 256 African Americans with HIV infection. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study at an AIDS Outreach Organization clinic in Alabama that provides medical and social support services to HIV-positive persons. Patients reported agreement with statements capturing beliefs in HIV/AIDS conspiracies. Results indicated that about one-third subscribed to the notion that "AIDS is a form of genocide against Blacks" (29.7%) and some 27.7% of the respondents said that "AIDS was created by the government to control the black population." Regarding treatment-related conspiracy beliefs, over one-third (35.6%) somewhat or strongly agreed that "people who take the new medicines for HIV/AIDS are human guinea pigs for the government," while 29.9% somewhat or strongly endorsed the statement that "the medicine that doctors prescribe to treat HIV is poison." Results of multivariate analyses indicated that stronger HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs were significantly associated with educational attainment and age. A set of sociodemographic variables explained a small amount of the variance in conspiracy beliefs about HIV/AIDS (R² range=0.13-0.14). Qualitative results indicated that conspiracy beliefs are barrier to medication adherence among these patients living with HIV/AIDS. Focus group discussions suggested that conspiracy beliefs can be important barriers to quality of life and infection control among HIV-positive individuals. These findings suggested that addressing conspiracy beliefs should be a significant issue in HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in the 21st Century.