Paper
Saturday, November 3, 2007
31
HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Assessment of Healthcare Providers in the Dominican Republic
Ellen L. Palmer, RN, PhD, Nursing, The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing, Arlington, TX, USA and Jennifer J. Gray, RN, PhD, School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: 1. Describe the challenges of cross-cultural research in assessing HIV/AIDS knowledge. |
| Learning Objective #2: 2. Explore the benefits of collaboration among multiple health organizations in different countries to conduct research and provide services.
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Nurses around the globe need thorough and accurate knowledge of the pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS. This is especially true in high prevalence countries such as the Dominican Republic (DR) that has the highest HIV prevalence rate among Spanish-speaking countries. Annually, a group of nurses and health professionals travel to the DR to speak along with in-country speakers during a continuing education workshop. Since this workshop was an annual event held at multiple locations in a country with high HIV prevalence, a needs assessment was conducted of the HIV knowledge of nurses, nursing students, and community health workers participating in the workshops. A needs assessment used with nurses in the United States was adapted to reflect treatment of HIV available in the DR and translated into Spanish. For each topic, participants responded by indicating their level of knowledge. The response categories were “Know very little,” “Know some,” “Able to teach patients,” or “Able to teach peers.” IRB approval was obtained. Of the 177 respondents, 65% reported they could teach patients about HIV transmission and its reduction from adult to adult. In contrast, 25.1% knew very little about reducing transmission from mother to baby and 29.1% rated their knowledge as some. Over half also reported knowing very little about HIV medications, compliance, and side effects. Several respondents were very uncomfortable with rating their knowledge on a numerical scale. The needs assessment highlighted the challenges of cross-cultural research. During the presentation, these findings will be placed in the context of findings using the same tool with student nurses and nurses in the United States and India.