Past, present or future? Word tense and affect in autobiographical narratives of women with HIV in relation to health indicators

• Main Authors: Brody, L.R (Author), Cohen, M.H (Author), Firpo-Perretti, Y.M (Author), Weber, K.M (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media, LLC 2018
• Subjects: Adherence; adult; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group; Anti-Retroviral Agents; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; antiretrovirus agent; Black person; CD4 lymphocyte count; CD4 Lymphocyte Count; cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; female; Female; highly active antiretroviral therapy; HIV health; HIV Infections; human; Human immunodeficiency virus infection; Humans; Logistic Models; Longitudinal Studies; longitudinal study; male; Male; middle aged; Middle Aged; Narration; Negative affect; Positive affect; psychology; statistical model; Tense; verbal communication
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 This study examined how the expression of positive and negative affect words and word tense in autobiographical narratives of 98 HIV+ women, predominantly African American, predicted undetectable HIV viral load (UDVL), CD4+ cells/mm3 counts and antiretroviral therapy medication (ART) adherence assessed concurrently (T1) and at 3 to 9-month follow-up (T2). Logistic regressions revealed that higher past tense words predicted worse odds of UDVL, CD4+ cells/mm3 above 350 at T1, and worse odds of 95% ART adherence at T2. However, using both high past tense words and high positive affect words predicted better odds of CD4+ cells/mm3[350 at T2. Higher future tense words predicted better odds of CD4+ cells/mm3 [350 at T1. Additionally, using both high present tense words and negative affect words predicted better odds of UDVL at T1. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the quality of affect expression significantly interacts with temporal context to relate to the health of women with HIV. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018.