Elon professor and public health alumna aim to fill a gap in HIV and adoption literature.
Cynthia Fair, professor of public health studies and human service studies, and Sarah Alger ’17 have published the first-known study exploring the views of medical and psychosocial care providers on families who internationally adopt children with HIV.
Fair and Alger published “Prepared but unprepared: a qualitative study of provider perspectives on the preparation and adjustment of U.S. families who internationally adopt children with HIV” on Aug. 3 in the AIDS Care Journal. AIDS Care is a multidisciplinary journal focused on HIV/AIDS research, prevention of infection, and psychosocial aspects of care and treatment.
The inspiration for this research stemmed from Alger’s Human Services Senior Seminar Capstone Class in 2016 which was taught by Fair. Both became interested in the emerging population of internationally adopted children with HIV (IACH) in the U.S. As part of her undergraduate research project completed during her last semester at Elon, the two conducted a focus group with psychosocial providers who had experience with IACH from the North Carolina Children’s AIDS Network.
The focus group uncovered new experiences and challenges that are unique to IACH. A review of available research found limited literature on the care and needs of IACH. This ignited Fair and Alger to continue studying IACH by conducting semi-structured phone interviews with additional psychosocial and medical providers around the country. Madi Piper ‘18 also assisted with interviews focusing on adoption agency personnel.
The study concluded that providers experienced considerable variation among families who adopted children with HIV. Many families were connected to communities of faith and were informed about HIV but less prepared for cognitive and developmental delays. Parents may need additional support managing behavioral and emotional challenges, especially as children transition to adolescence.
Fair is a chair of the Department of Public Health Studies and is the Watts/Thompson Professor. She continues to study youth living with and affected by HIV, as well as maternal health.
Alger works in the field of global health as an Associate Health Practice Specialist at DAI Global, LLC, primarily supporting the implementation of USAID projects in the health systems strengthening portfolio. This is the first publication for Alger and she hopes this research sheds light on the emerging population of IACH and provides preliminary guidance for providers who work with this population.