CPC Research Methods Series: Stories and Themes: A Framework for Qualitative Analysis

Dr. Clare Barrington

Assistant Professor of Health behavior; and CPC Faculty Fellow

Barrington’s research examines social and structural influences on health and health behaviors, with a focus on HIV prevention and health care among female sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), and transgender women in Latin America and Latino migrants in the United States. She has been conducting community-based research in the Dominican Republic for over 15 years. In collaboration with the Centro de Orientacion e Investigacion Integral (COIN), she studied the social networks of male clients of female sex workers. Results from this study contributed to the growing literature on normative influences on sexual behavior within social networks and were also used in developing a pilot HIV prevention intervention aimed at male clients in the Dominican Republic (funded by the USAID/Academy for Educational Development). Most recently, with support from USAID, Barrington has been studying a cohort of 250 female sex workers living with HIV in Santo Domingo and their male partners. The aim is to improve understanding of the factors influencing their achievement of optimal HIV outcomes and to assess feasibility and initial effects of a multi-level intervention called Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors). In Guatemala, she has collaborated with researchers from the Universidad del Valle (UVG) and the Centers for Disease control to examine and compare social networks among gay identifying and non-gay identifying MSM and transgender women. She is currently working with UVG to implement two PEPFAR-funded implementation science projects to pilot the use of social networks to promote HIV testing among MSM in Guatemala City and to evaluate a multi-level intervention for MSM living with HIV. In North Carolina, Barrington has been studying the intersection between social networks, migration and HIV among Mexican migrants. She currently leads the qualitative formative research and evaluation of a HRSA project to promote early detection and linkage to care for HIV among Mexican MSM and transgender women in North Carolina. Finally, Barrington is the qualitative researcher on several mixed-methods projects including a NIDA-funded longitudinal study of relationship disruption during incarceration and HIV risk among African American men in North Carolina, a quality improvement strategy to improve maternal and child health in Ghana, and an impact evaluation of cash transfer program in Malawi.

Barrington will continue to conduct mixed-methods research to improve understanding of the long-term experiences of people living with HIV in Latin America and Latinos in North Carolina. In the Dominican Republic her goal is to continue research with the Abriendo Puertas cohort to examine the role of substance use in HIV care and treatment among female sex workers living with HIV. She also has a grant pending to the adapt Abriendo Puertas for MSM. She is also interested in exploring how to improve employment opportunities for FSW, MSM and transgender women who are living with HIV in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and North Carolina as this has emerged as key structural determinant to positive HIV outcomes across settings. With her work with Latinos in North Carolina she aims to identify strategies to overcome the challenges of geographic dispersion and social isolation for engaging with Latinos living with HIV. She is also developing a new line of research focused on chronic disease in Latin America. She will conduct formative research in collaboration with two rural diabetes clinics to examine the epidemiological transition from the perspective of community health workers and explore social determinants of diabetes in these communities.