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Gail E. Wyatt, PhD

Gail E. Wyatt is with the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles.

Correspondence: Correspondence can be sent to Gail E. Wyatt, PhD, UCLA Psychr & Biobehav Sci, Box 951759, 760 Westwood Plaza, C8-871 Semel Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1759 (e-mail: gwyatt{at}mednet.ucla.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

I describe 4 protective strategies that African Americans employ that may challenge current HIV prevention efforts: (1) an adaptive duality that protects identity, (2) personal control influenced by external factors, (3) long-established indirect communication patterns, and (4) a mistrust of "outsiders." I propose the Sexual Health Model as a conceptual framework for HIV prevention interventions because it incorporates established adaptive coping strategies into new HIV-related protective skills. The Sexual Health Model promotes interconnectedness, sexual ownership, and body awareness, 3 concepts that represent the context of the African American historical and cultural experience and that enhance rather than contradict future prevention efforts.