“The Pleasure Is Better as I’ve Gotten Older”: Sexual Health, Sexuality, and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Older Women Living With HIV

• DOI: 10.1007/s10508-016-0751-1
• Publication Date: 2016-05-25T01:24:17Z
• Authors: Tonya N. Taylor; Corrine E. Munoz-...; Lakshmi Goparaju; Omar Martinez; Susan Holman; Howard L. Minkoff; Stephen E. Karpiak; Monica Gandhi; Mardge H. Cohen; Elizabeth T. Golub; Alexandra M. Levine; Adebola A. Adedimeji; Rebecca Gonsalves; Tiffany Bryan; Nina Connors; Gabrielle Schechter; Tracey E. Wilson
• Keywords: Aging; Social and personality psychology; Sexual Behavior; 150; 610; HIV Infections; Reproductive health and childbirth; Other Studies in Human Society; Clinical and health psychology; Gender Studies; Cohort Studies; 03 medical and health sciences; Risk-Taking; 0302 clinical medicine; 5. Gender equality; Clinical Research; Behavioral and Social Science; Psychology; Humans; Women; Aged; Pediatric; Prevention; Contraception/Reproduction; HIV; Focus Groups; Middle Aged; United States; 3. Good health; Human Society; Clinical Psychology; Infectious Diseases; Good Health and Well Being; Reproductive Health; Sexual Partners; Public Health and Health Services; HIV/AIDS; Sexually Transmitted Infections; Women's Health; Gender studies; Female; Sexual Health; Infection; Sexuality; Sexual risk behaviors; Adolescent Sexual Activity

There is limited research examining the sexual health and well-being of older women living with HIV (OWLH). Most studies focus on sexual dysfunction, leaving aside the richer context of sexuality and sexual health, including the effect of age-related psychosocial and interpersonal changes on sexual health behaviors. Guided by the integrative biopsychosocial model and the sexual health model, this study explored the importance of sex and sexuality among OWLH to identify their sexual health and HIV prevention needs for program planning. A purposive sample (n = 50) of OWLH was selected from a parent study (n = 2052). We conducted 8 focus groups and 41 in-depth interviews with 50 African American and Latina OWLH aged 50-69 years old in three U.S. cities. The triangulation approach was used to synthesize the data. Six salient themes emerged: sexual pleasure changes due to age, sexual freedom as women age, the role of relationships in sexual pleasure, changes in sexual ability and sexual health needs, sexual risk behaviors, and ageist assumptions about older women's sexuality. We found that sexual pleasure and the need for intimacy continue to be important for OWLH, but that changing sexual abilities and sexual health needs, such as the reduction of sexual desire, as well as increased painful intercourse due to menopause-associated vaginal drying, were persistent barriers to sexual fulfillment and satisfaction. Particular interpersonal dynamics, including low perceptions of the risk of HIV transmission as related to gender, viral suppression, and habitual condomless sex with long-term partners without HIV transmission have resulted in abandoning safer sex practices with serodiscordant partners. These findings suggest that HIV prevention for OWLH should focus on how sexual function and satisfaction intersect with sexual risk. HIV prevention for OWLH should promote ways to maintain satisfying and safe sex lives among aging women.