A Concept Mapping Study to Understand Multilevel Resilience Resources Among African American/Black Adults Living with HIV in the Southern United States.

Resilience may help people living with HIV (PLWH) overcome adversities to disease management. This study identifies multilevel resilience resources among African American/Black (AA/B) PLWH and examines whether resilience resources differ by demographics and neighborhood risk environments. We recruited participants and conducted concept mapping at two clinics in the southeastern United States. Concept Mapping incorporates qualitative and quantitative methods to represent participant-generated concepts via two-dimensional maps. Eligible participants had to attend ≥ 75% of their scheduled clinic appointments and did not have ≥ 2 consecutive detectable HIV-1 viral load measurements in the past 2 years. Of the 85 AA/B PLWH who were invited, forty-eight participated. Twelve resilience resource clusters emerged-five individual, two interpersonal, two organizational/policy and three neighborhood level clusters. There were strong correlations in cluster ratings for demographic and neighborhood risk environment comparison groups (r ≥ 0.89). These findings could inform development of theories, measures and interventions for AA/B PLWH.