Grant: Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA)

The syndemics of diseases and social, political, and/or economic factors have been found in many studies to worsen the conditions of vulnerable populations. The theory of syndemics involves three claims: 1) political-economic forces with historical depth lead to entrenched social, economic, and power inequities; 2) those inequities shape the distribution of risks and resources for health, leading to the concentration of diseases in specific parts of a population, and 3) some overlapping diseases and these political/economic/ or social forces make one another worse because of their interactions. This theory will be used in understanding the health outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDs (PLHIV) who concurrently experience housing insecurity. Housing insecurity is a multidimensional challenge encapsulating not just the lack of adequate, secure, and affordable housing, but poor-quality housing and unsafe neighborhood environments. Following the theory of syndemics, the interaction of housing insecurity with HIV/AIDS infection is expected to worsen health outcomes. Existing studies have examined the interaction of HIV/AIDS infection with food insecurity and/or water insecurity and their associated health outcomes; however, no study has examined the interaction between HIV/AIDs infection and housing insecurity. Consequently, using data collected from PLHIV (N=1,136) and logistic regression models, this study will examine the effect of housing insecurity on respiratory illness among PLHIV. Additionally, we will account for gendered differences in the risk of respiratory illness among this population. Findings from this study will be disseminated through open-access peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.