HIV/AIDS-Related Research in US Higher Education Journals: A Content Analysis

In the United States, HIV disproportionately affects people 13-45 years old, people of color, people in the south, and men who have sex with men. Given the growing number of postsecondary students within these demographic groups, this presents an equity issue and raises concerns for how higher education researchers and practitioners choose to engage problems of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in U.S. college contexts. Using a content analysis methodology and Endarkened Feminist Epistemological lens, we examined a decade of HIV/AIDS-related research published in 113 higher education journals. Our findings suggest a generally limited focus on HIV/AIDS in college contexts and overrepresentation of quantitative methods in available scholarships. Furthermore, despite widening HIV/AIDS diagnosis gaps, researchers rarely nuanced identity and most often focused on 4 individual choices rather than systemic structures.