What Do Men Who Serve as Lay Health Advisers Really Do?: Immigrant Latino Men Share their Experiences as Navegantes to Prevent HIV

• Published in: AIDS education and prevention Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 220 - 232
• Main Authors: Vissman, Aaron T., Eng, Eugenia, Aronson, Robert E., Bloom, Fred R., Leichliter, Jami S., Montaño, Jaime, Rhodes, Scott D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Guilford 01.06.2009; Guilford Press
• Subjects: Access to Health Care; Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; Adult; AIDS; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Coding; Community Health Services; Community involvement; Community Participation; Community Relations; Cultural identity; Data analysis; Data collection; Emigrants and Immigrants; General aspects; Grounded Theory; Health care access; Health education; Health Promotion - methods; Health risks; Health services; Hispanic or Latino; Hispanic people; HIV; HIV Infections - ethnology; HIV Infections - prevention & control; Human subjects; Human viral diseases; Humans; Immigrants; Immigration; Immunodeficiencies; Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies; Immunopathology; Infectious diseases; Intervention; Latin American Cultural Groups; Literature Reviews; Male; Males; Medical sciences; Mens health; Middle Aged; Narratives; Negative Attitudes; North Carolina; Outreach Programs; Participatory Research; Planification. Prevention (methods). Intervention. Evaluation; Prevention; Program Evaluation; Psychosocial Factors; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Research methodology; Residence Characteristics; Risk Factors; Risk taking; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Behavior - ethnology; Sexually transmitted diseases; Soccer; Social networks; Sociocultural Factors; Sports Teams; STD; Team Sports; Training; Venereal Diseases; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Workforce; Young Adult; North Carolina; El Salvador; Mexico; Human; Immunopathology; Sanitary program; Immigrant; Retroviridae; Male; AIDS; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Infection; Virus; Prevention; Viral disease; Human immunodeficiency virus; Public health
• ISSN: 0899-9546; 1943-2755; 1943-2755
• DOI: 10.1521/aeap.2009.21.3.220

HoMBReS was a lay health adviser (LHA) intervention designed to reduce sexual risk among recently arrived, nonEnglish-speaking Latino men who were members of a multicounty soccer league in central NC. Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership collected, analyzed, and interpreted qualitative life-story narratives to characterize the roles of male LHAs known as Navegantes. Nine Navegantes were interviewed. Their mean age was 39 years (range: 26-62 years); six were from Mexico and three from El Salvador. Navegantes described the function and facilitators of serving as LHAs and identified leverage points for future HIV and STD prevention strategies. They highlighted psychosocial and sociocultural influences on HIV risk, settings for risky behavior, and personal changes from serving as Navegantes. This study provides preliminary evidence that an LHA approach is feasible and appropriate for Latino men, and can be effective in reaching men who might otherwise be difficult to reach.