The Concern of Rising HIV Rates among African-American Women - Essay Example

"The concern of Rising HIV Rates among African-American Women" is a remarkable example of a paper on social and family issues.
With the increase in the HIV/AIDS rates among African- American women, it is of great importance to scrutinize the most appropriate model to analyze and discuss the issue of HIV/AIDS among the African-American women. Analysts and researchers indicate that the number of women succumbing to HIV is far much higher than that of the males. This essay shall endeavour to highlight the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model in an attempt to understand the rising HIV rates among African-American women.

            The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) aims at explaining the connection between an individual’s behaviour, their attitude and the reasons behind particular behaviour (The National Cancer Institute, 2005). This is an interpretation of the fact that all kinds of behaviour by an individual revolves around their intentions. Additionally, in the quest to understand behaviours by individuals, it is of the essence to assess what the individuals think or feel while indulging in a particular activity. Beliefs cannot be alienated if human behaviour has to be understood. With the alienation of attributes such as the culture and the environment in an understanding of human behaviour, it is not of certainty what individuals might behave in some instances (The National Cancer Institute, 2005).

            The National Cancer Institute (2005) indicates that the behavioural concept is one of the reasons that explain planned behaviour. One of the reasons behind the succumbing of HIV/AIDS among women is the depiction by the media of HIV/AIDS being an infection of the white gay women (Wilson & Calvert, 2011). With this perception, a great percentage of women find themselves indulging in unprotected sex, with the notion that they will be exempted from the deadly menace. However, the statistics proved different with a great percentage of women succumbing to the syndrome. 

            Secondly, the attitude of the women towards caution on indulging in unprotected sex is of great importance to an understanding of the rise in the number of lives of the African-American women being lost to the malady. In an attempt to assess the implication of this approach in women, it is of the essence to note that despite the fact that a lot of caution has been publicized on the implication of unprotected sex, a majority of African-American women take part in unprotected sex to acquire funds while others do not take the initiative of finding means of empowering themselves on the control over their sexual life from their men (Welbourn, 2008). As a result of the neutrality of many African-American women, they end up remaining in the dark as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned.

            The case gets worse in relation to the subjective norm conducted by the National Cancer Institute (2005), which sees the women not being so much concerned with their sexual wellbeing, and holding the concept that HIV/AIDS is a falsehood in the public. On the contrary, yet another percentage of the women still regard as the control of the spread of HIV/AIDS not in their hands, but the government or even their relatives (Welbourn, 2008). With this, it is almost unachievable that the pandemic can be curbed among African-American women.