The relationship between coping strategies and anxiety and depression was investigated in 29 women patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, at a psychiatric AIDS clinic. The women were divided on the basis of risk factor, intravenous drug use (IVDU), and nonintravenous drug use (non-IVDU), and coping strategies were compared. Based on a battery of psychological tests, the coping strategies of self-blaming denial, wish-fulfilling fantasy, emotional expression, and threat minimization were significantly related to greater anxiety and depression. There was no difference in coping strategies between the IVDUs and non-IVDUs, and none of the coping strategies employed appeared to be associated with less anxiety or depression. This may have been due to the psychiatric AIDS clinic sample, possibly representing the more distressed group of HIV/AIDS patients, for whom coping strategies were overwhelmed.
Recent figures indicate that approximately 5 1 'Yo of women in the United States diagnosed with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) were infected from intravenous drug use (IVDU) and 35% from heterosexual contact (Fleming, Ciesielski, Byers, Castro, & Berkelman, 1993). Members of racial or ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of infection. Incidence rates in New York State indicate that 53% of HIV infected women are African American, 30% are Hispanic, and 17% White (Smith, Mikl, Hyde, & Morse, 1991). However, much of the HIV/AIDS infection research groups all infected women in one category, ignoring the subgroups that are emerging as discrete risk groups with specific problems and needs. Women who have been infected through sex partners have been particularly neglected. Yet, heterosexual transmission is the most rapidly growing type of transmission in the United States (Seidlin, Vogler, Lee, Lee, & Dubin, 1993). It is important for the community to understand the unique needs and concerns of this population, in order to respond with effective prevention and care programs.
Both female IVDUs and non-IVDUs face increased levels of stress due to responsibilities for children, lack of support from their family of origin or current family