Ageism in HIV Research

Abstract Sex and sexuality are important determinants of health and wellbeing across the life course. The desire and capacity for sexual intimacy and pleasure among older adults are neglected areas of research due to ageist assumptions that they no longer engage in sexual activity. These assumptions are most pronounced in HIV research, where we aggressively studied intimate details of sexual behaviors of people living with HIV until they became “old.” Interest in the sexual behaviors among older adults with HIV has waned in HIV prevention, suggesting an inherent ageism within the field. We will discuss emerging new HIV and STI risks for older adults, declining trends in gerosexuality funding, HIV media campaigns targeted for older adults, and new evidence that suggest that interventions that engage older adults with HIV in conversations about sexual health, menopause, and erectile dysfunction may be an effective strategy for promoting overall successful aging

sexuality and disability. As these communities age they are likely to experience cumulative or intersectional disadvantage due to multiple stigmatized group memberships. Where it is understood that there are negative health (cognition, gait speed, longevity, cardiovascular) and psychological (depression, stress, anxiety) outcomes associated with each form of discrimination, the often focused research is less than conclusive regarding the consequences of intersectional discrimination. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies from across the US, this symposium explores the impacts of ageism with regard to HIV status, disability status, race/ethnicity and LGBT identification. Exploring the intersections of ageism, each paper will highlight the challenges faced by the respective communities as well as some of the ways to address this using policy, practice and highlighting where additional research would be needed to fully understand the phenomena. Finally the discussant will summarise and collate ideas for a concluding panel discussion.

AGEISM IN HIV RESEARCH Tonya Taylor, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Sex and sexuality are important determinants of health and wellbeing across the life course. The desire and capacity for sexual intimacy and pleasure among older adults are neglected areas of research due to ageist assumptions that they no longer engage in sexual activity. These assumptions are most pronounced in HIV research, where we aggressively studied intimate details of sexual behaviors of people living with HIV until they became "old." Interest in the sexual behaviors among older adults with HIV has waned in HIV prevention, suggesting an inherent ageism within the field. We will discuss emerging new HIV and STI risks for older adults, declining trends in gerosexuality funding, HIV media campaigns targeted for older adults, and new evidence that suggest that interventions that engage older adults with HIV in conversations about sexual health, menopause, and erectile dysfunction may be an effective strategy for promoting overall successful aging

AGEISM AND PEOPLE WITH EARLY-ONSET DISABILITY Patricia Heyn, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States
People with disabilities are underrepresented in health research and usually they are explicitly excluded from research participation. There are no longitudinal studies that follows cohorts with disabilities to learn about their healthspan and aging processes. Thus, we know very little about how people with early onset disability age, and the medical conditions and health risk factors contributing to the "accelerated aging" phenomena commonly observed in this population. Our research group has been following a cohort group of individuals with pediatric onset disability since 2013. We collected pediatric and adult data from 70 persons with cerebral palsy and we evaluated key health outcomes as well as their access to care. In this session, we will present some of the key findings from our longitudinal study. We will discuss future research and key areas that needs to be addressed for us to properly move forward this urgent unmet area of aging research.

University of Michigan, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States, 2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Using critical intersectionality frameworks, this project foregrounds how Black same-gender-loving (SGL), gay, and bisexual older men navigate complexities of interacting positionalities (e.g. race, gender, sexual orientation, HIVstatus, and class). This study employs and further develops intracategorical and intercategorical analytic methods with data from eight focus groups, conducted as part of a larger collaborative project in Detroit. Data from two intragroup focus groups with Black same-gender-loving older men and six subsequent intergroup focus groups with Black and white lesbian, gay, bisexual, SGL, and queer participants of various ages revealed concerns and responses to barriers and facilitators for intergenerational support and intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Building on intersectionality frameworks of power, this research provides new insights from a vastly underrepresented and understudied community about how shifting contexts shape how experiences of oppression like racism, ageism, and homophobia interact and reveal potential opportunities for intergenerational supports moving forward.

RELATION ORIENTATION AND AGEISM: A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN CHINESE AND AMERICANS Xin Zhang, Peking University, Beijing, China
Attitudes toward older adults were negatively associated with ageism. However, whether this association is universal or cultural specific remained unknown. On the basis of well-documented cultural difference in relation orientation between westerners and easterners, this study aimed to investigate whether participants of different cultural background would show different association between ageism and attitudes toward close vs. non-close older adults in a sample of 211 Chinese (Mean age = 33.27) and 241 American (Mean age = 34.56) younger adults. Multiple regressions were conducted, and as expected, attitudes toward older adults (of different relation orientation) were found to be associated with ageism differently in two cultures. For American participants, attitudes toward both close and non-close older adults significantly correlated with ageism, while only attitudes toward close older adults were significant predictors of ageism in Chinese sample. This result had important implications for understanding and intervening ageism with people of different culture background.  Aging, 2020, Vol. 4, No. S1