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HIV Care Engagement and Quality of Life Among People Living with HIV

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Infectious Diseases, Chronic Diseases, and Disease Prevention".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 603

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Chadwick K. Campbell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Interests: HIV care engagement; HIV stigma; intersectionality; intersectional stigma; sexual and gender minorities; medication adherence; social determinants of health; mental health; substance use; ethnic and racial disparities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past four decades, advances in biomedical treatment of HIV have shifted HIV from a terminal diagnosis to a livable and treatable chronic illness, allowing people living with HIV to live fuller, healthier lives. In spite of these achievements, there are racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic disparities in healthcare access, HIV care engagement, medication adherence, viral suppression, and quality of life. Biobehavioral, community, and structural interventions and strategies are needed to achieve equity in HIV care outcomes and quality of life, particularly among the most marginalized members of society. Racism, sexism, economic oppression, transphobia, homophobia and heterosexism, HIV stigma, and their intersections continue to influence the health outcomes and the overall well-being and lived experiences of people living with HIV. This Special Issue welcomes qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research and literature reviews focused on HIV care engagement and quality of life among people living with HIV, as well as the influencing socio-structural factors. Papers focused on marginalized populations from a range of regional contexts globally are welcome.  

Dr. Chadwick K. Campbell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • quality of life
  • HIV care engagement
  • ART adherence
  • HIV stigma
  • intersectionality
  • intersectional stigma
  • social and structural determinants
  • HIV clinical outcomes
  • long-acting injectable ART

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 259 KiB  
Article
COVID-19 and the Syndemic of Intimate Partner Violence, Mental Health, Substance Use, and HIV Care Engagement Among Black Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV in the US South
by Carrie L. Nacht, Hannah E. Reynolds, Chadwick K. Campbell, Kirstin Kielhold, Wilson Vincent, Daniel E. Siconolfi, Susan M. Kegeles and Erik D. Storholm
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(7), 1065; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22071065 - 3 Jul 2025
Viewed by 288
Abstract
Background: Black sexual minority men (BSMM) are disproportionately affected by HIV incidence and have lower rates of HIV care engagement (e.g., retention in care, viral suppression), particularly in the US South. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated co-occurring psychosocial syndemic factors (e.g., depression, violence, substance [...] Read more.
Background: Black sexual minority men (BSMM) are disproportionately affected by HIV incidence and have lower rates of HIV care engagement (e.g., retention in care, viral suppression), particularly in the US South. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated co-occurring psychosocial syndemic factors (e.g., depression, violence, substance use) that disproportionately impact BSMM living with HIV (BSMM+), but the impact of the pandemic on HIV care engagement among BSMM+ in the US South has not been explored in depth. Methods: BSMM+ (n = 27) were recruited from a longitudinal cohort in Dallas and Houston, Texas. Participants with less-than-optimal HIV care engagement, previous experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV), and prevalence of self-reported substance use were purposively selected for in-depth interviews from June 2022 to August 2023. Interviews lasted 54 min on average and were audio-recorded, transcribed, and de-identified before applying a thematic analysis approach. Results: Over half of participants experienced a relationship with IPV, used illicit substances in the past 60 days, and were depressed. Interviews highlighted that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened levels of depression, substance use, and IPV individually and synergistically inhibited ART adherence and HIV care engagement. Participants described how IPV served to worsen their mental health and substance use, which, in turn, were the core drivers of poor HIV care engagement. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the syndemics of IPV, mental health, and substance use, and these acted as barriers to HIV care engagement. Future adherence interventions should synergistically address syndemic factors to maximize effectiveness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue HIV Care Engagement and Quality of Life Among People Living with HIV)
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