HIV and Mental Health Services in the US South: A Meso Analysis

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 1146 - 1156
• Main Authors: Ali, Samira, Stanton, Megan, Keo, Bec Sokha, Stanley, Marcus, McCormick, Katie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Clinical outcomes; Community; Community and Environmental Psychology; Community health care; Epidemics; Health services; Health status; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health care; Mental health services; Original Paper; Political factors; Psychiatry; Sociopolitical factors; Stigma; United States > US; US South; Mental health services; HIV; Meso factors
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-021-00925-3

The US South is disproportionately impacted by HIV. Social, cultural, economic, and political characteristics of the South shape access to mental health services leaving adverse impacts on health and wellness outcomes among People Living with HIV. The aim of this paper was to: (a) identify meso factors (at individual, organizational and community-level manifestations) which impact mental health services among People living with HIV in the South of those factors and (b) pose community-articulated recommendation and strategies. Through qualitative interviews with People Living with HIV and service providers, this study found that the meso factors of restricted funding and compounding stigma shaped mental health services in the South. Given the disproportionate rate of HIV, lack of mental health care, and landscape of socio-political factors unique to the region, attention to intervenable meso factors and community-based strategies are needed to enhance mental health services and respond to the HIV epidemic in the US South.