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Abstract
HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25-34 and the third leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 35-44. The annual AIDS case rate per 100,000 persons for Black men is 8 times that of White men and the AIDS case rates for Black women is nearly 23 times that for White women (2.2). Factors such as a shift in the at-risk population, socioeconomic status, victimization, and the sex-ration imbalance, along with theories and models such as the theory of gender and power and dyadic trust, have been used to explain an increase in HIV transmission among African American women. But, a comprehensive understanding of sexual behaviors is still needed to decrease the risk of HIV infections among all African American women. Interventions geared towards African American MSM have proven to be successful, but because of the discordance between a persons sexual identity and sexual orientation, many African American women still feel they are not at risk for contracting this deadly disease. The goal of this study is to increase the level of understanding the safer sex practices of African American men who have sex with women to inform programs that decrease the risk of HIV infection among African American women in low income, high crime Black communities. Three focus groups were conducted with African American men who reside in the poorest segment of a major metropolitan area in the southeastern region of the United States. The group-talk and in talk interaction was analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach to construct themes pertaining to the community, HIV/AIDS knowledge and awareness, beliefs about HIV/AIDS transmission, and the participants perception about romantic relationships.