African American Women Living with HIV/AIDS: Families as Sources of Support and Stress

This article presents findings from interviews conducted with 18 African American women living with HIV/AIDS. It presents their perceptions of ways in which their families function as a source of support and as a source of stress in their dealings with HIV/AIDS issues. The article provides information on supportive aspects provided by family in emotional, concrete, and cognitive/informational areas. In addition, the family stresses experienced and barriers to dealing with stressful areas are reported. This type of information should be valuable to social work practitioners in efforts to enhance services delivery.