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Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the importance of communication between HIV patients and health care professionals.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to understand a need for using question list about HIV patients' concern.
To gain the better understanding on HIV patients’ experience for the first year after diagnosis, and to identify the question that patients may want to ask to professionals in regard to the treatment compliance and active participation.
Methods:
In-depth individual interview was conducted to explore patients’ experience during the early stage of diagnosis of HIV. Four men and one woman were voluntarily participated in the interview, and the mean duration after diagnosis was 30.8 month. Main question was “What questions you wanted to ask a doctor/nurse about your condition and treatment plan in your early stage of diagnosis?”
In addition, focus group interview was conducted with clinical nurses involved in the care of and counseling for HIV patients to evaluate content validity of patients’ need. Five nurses whose mean duration of HIV patients’ care was 26.4 month participated in the interview.
Results:
Five questions formulated included “How long I can live,” “Can my disease be cured if I take medicine,” “Until when should I take these medicines,” “How much do I am I responsible for treatment,” and “Can my disease be carried over my family?” These are recommended questions to improve effective communication between HIV patients and health care professionals during the early stage of diagnosis.
Conclusion:
This finding highlighted a need for using question list including five questions resulted for this study to improve communication between patients and health care professionals, and reduce patients’ fear of treatment process.
*This research was supported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).