Development and validation of the mental health professionals’ attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS scale (MHP-PLHIV-AS)

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the creation and validation of an instrument to measure mental health professionals’ attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. Rasch analyses (Rash, 1960, 1980) provided evidence to support a twodimensional (societal and personal dimensions) measurement of this attitude construct.     

The emotional aspect of AIDS stigma among health professionals in Puerto Rico

People who live with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Puerto Rico have been a vulnerable group for stigmatization. Emotions have been a widely ignored issue in stigma-related research. Emotions influence the way people establish their relationship with their environment, relate to each other and assign social meanings to who and what surrounds them. Therefore, emotions have a vital role in the stigmatization of PLWHA. The main objective of this study was to explore the role of emotions in the process of stigmatization of PLWHA by health professionals and health profession students. We implemented an exploratory and mixed method design integrating semi-structured interviews and self-administered questionnaires. The sample was composed of 501 health professionals and health profession students. Qualitative results evidenced the role of negative emotions, such as fear, pity, disgust and embarrassment, in the stigmatization of PLWHA. Participants also described emotions as phenomena that should be suppressed in order to provide effective services. Quantitative results evidenced the manifestation of negative emotions for most of the situations presented to them related to HIV/AIDS. Emotions manifested in health scenarios can hinder the productive provision of health-related services and therefore should be addressed as part of stigma reduction interventions.     

AIDS and sexual practices: knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and practices of health professionals in the People's Republic of China.

68 upper level health professionals from 20 provinces in China completed to a questionnaire while attending either a health education workshop in Guangzhou in August 1989 or a similar workshop in Beijing in December 1989. The aim of the study was to determine their knowledge and attitudes since they were opinion leaders and key players in future AIDS prevention programs and to learn about sexual practices. 90% knew that a pregnant woman can transmit HIV to her infant and that sharing unclean needles can transmit HIV, but only 82.1% knew that someone with HIV can transmit it to a partner during sexual intercourse. 29.9% thought one can tell if someone has AIDS by looking at him or her. Newspapers and professional journals provided most of them with information on AIDS (80.6% and 73.1% respectively), but friends and government only provided this information to 29.9% and 19.4%. Overall the participants viewed AIDS as a threat to others and not themselves or families. 85-95% believed certain population groups such as policy makers, high school students, and the public should undergo sex education. Only 43.3% believed elementary schools should provide sex education, however. Participants tended to approve premarital sex and sex between individuals with emotional or long term ties more than extramarital sex. Nevertheless considerable percentage did condone extramarital sex. 95.8% experienced their 1st sexual relationship with their spouses. Even though participants tended to feel condoms did not make sex enjoyable, 81.6% and 72.5% believed condoms prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases respectively. 82% thought they were easy to use. 35% used condoms for contraception. Before using these upper level health workers to conduct AIDS training for lower level workers, they need to have a more thorough understanding of HIV transmission and the signs and symptoms of AIDS.     

Diffusion of HIV/AIDS knowledge, positive attitudes, and behaviors through training of health professionals in China.

A study evaluated a training-of-trainers strategy to update HIV/AIDS knowledge and improve attitudes and behavior among health professionals and the public. A survey was carried out among health workers and villagers. An initial workshop was given to 55 staff from several health institutions. Trainees were provided limited funds to conduct secondary workshops at local levels. They were requested to diffuse knowledge to patients during routine health visits. A follow-up survey was conducted 18 months later in counties in which workshops were not held. Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior were compared both at the baseline and follow-up surveys, and before and after the intervention. Nearly 95% (94.8%, or 13,782) of health workers in Fuyang Prefecture were trained secondarily at local levels. Knowledge was significantly higher in intervention (88.5-99.8%) compared with nonintervention (37.4-53.7%) counties, and after intervention (22.2-66.6%), respectively (p < .01). Attitudes toward people with HIV/AIDS improved significantly in intervention counties. Condom use during last sexual intercourse increased from 11.0% to 33.5% in health workers (p < .01) and from 8.7% to 18.5% among villagers (p <.01). The strategy wascost effective for improving knowledge and attitudes and promoting condom use.     

Coping styles of caregivers of children with HIV/AIDS: implications for health professionals

In a study to examine the coping styles and quality of life of non-parental caregivers of children with HIV/AIDS, 25 non-parental caregivers used confrontive coping most often and passive and emotive coping much less often. The two most frequently used coping styles were prayer and efforting to maintain some control over the situation. Quality of life correlations showed that support from family/friends was significantly related to all of the quality of life subscales. Time spent caring for the HIV-positive child was significantly inversely related to all aspects of quality of life. The conclusions drawn from the study were that interventions are needed to help support caregivers of children with HIV/AIDS. Examples of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention measures for health professionals are discussed.     

Teaching skills of health professionals

The purpose of this paper is to describe an analytic method that focuses on health professionals' teaching skills. The method involves comparing live or recorded teacher behaviors with operational definitions of 20 skills known to influence learning outcomes, and assigning numerical ratings on a four-point scale. The videotapes prepared for this symposium are rated and compared with other sessions recorded in health care settings. Virtually all patient educators could improve their teaching skills substantially. Although many questions about teaching skills and education process remain unanswered, available data clearly justify training to improve health professionals' teaching skills.     

Dimensions of the OARS mental health measures

A measurement model of mental health for the Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS) questionnaire is described. Using confirmatory factor analysis on noninstitutionalized elderly from Cleveland (N = 1834) and Virginia (N = 2146), the 21 OARS mental health items were fit to a 15-item model. In addition to the second-order construct of mental health, there were four first-order dimensions: life satisfaction, psychosomatic symptomatology, alienation, and cognitive deficit. Analyses were further replicated by splitting both samples in half. The model fit well and compared favorably to other alternative specifications. In addition to this analysis of internal structure, the model was also examined in relation to several exogenous factors including age, sex, race, education, and physical health. While the model again fit well, a model with cognitive deficit separate from the other factors seemed more reasonable.     

医疗卫生人员脑卒中相关知识、态度及行为水平的调查

目的：了解医疗卫生人员脑卒中相关知识,态度和行为（KAB）的水平及影响因素,为健康教育提供指导。方法：1998年8－10月采用自填式问卷方法进行集中调查结合个案访问,在“我国社区医疗卫生人员心血管病健康教育（培训）项目”协作网内,按4个级别抽取并调查医疗卫生人员共1609人,符合要求1573人,仅分析与脑卒中相关部分情况。结果：25．7％的医师认为脑动脉粥样硬化是脑血管最常见的原因建议并帮助脑卒中患者在非急性期坚持锻炼的仅有28．0％,减肥和限盐的分别为57．8％和48．1％,多因素分析提示最后学历、职称、从事专业,是否参加过脑血管病防治知识培训、家人是否患脑血管意外分别是脑卒中防治知识的独立影响因素（P＜0．05）。结论：我国医疗卫生人员脑卒中防治知识水平较差,以脑血管病防治知识培训为中心的健康教育应作为改善的主要手段。     

Immunisation: the views of parents and health professionals in Ireland

A knowledge, attitude and practice study on vaccinations was undertaken among Irish parents and healthcare professionals between May and August 2001. Parents expressed fear of vaccine side effects, mistrust of health services, and felt poorly informed on the vaccination issues. According to group discussions, health professionals felt they lack time and user-friendly materials to properly inform the parents.     

Awareness,attitude, and distribution of high blood pressure among health professionals

BackgroundBP control is suboptimal Worldwide. Little is known about attitudes of health professionals toward their BP status.AimTo estimate awareness, attitudes, and distribution of blood pressure among health professionals.Study designProspective cross-sectional survey.MethodsStudy was conducted among health professionals in two tertiary hospitals in Riyadh, KSA during December 2010. Socio-demographics, risk factors for high BP, awareness, and adherence to treatment were recorded.ResultsSix hundred and seventy-two subjects, 66.6% females, mean age 36.2 + 13.9 years. Prevalence of Hypertension (HTN) was 28%. 114 (60.6%) patients had self reported HTN in HTN group while 74 (11%) of total study population, were not aware that they have HTN which was detected on screening. Stress and lack of formal exercise were prevalent risk factors for HTN, present in 44.1% and 36.1%, of patients, respectively, while obesity was present in 19.4%. Many participants were not aware of recently recommended target value of blood pressure. 22.3% patients were irregular for their follow-up. 12.2% patients were not adherent to the treatment. Isolated systolic hypertension was more common in men. A point of serious concern was that relatively young health professionals, who were not known to be hypertensive did not monitor their BP, found to have HTN.ConclusionSuboptimal awareness and lack of adherence to the treatment for BP among health professionals is of serious concern, for increased chances of cardiovascular events. Physical exercise, correction of obesity and compliance with treatment may reduce the risk of HTN-related adverse outcome in this special subset of the population.     

Women's health,HIV/AIDS and the workplace in South Africa

This work explores the connections between gender inequality, HIV/AIDS and women's health in the world of work in South Africa. These connections are located within a context of significant reversals in development, specifically declining life expectancy and premature mortality for South Africans — particularly for women. By relying on the existing literature and interviews with 33 key informants, the paper examines the extent to which South African workplaces are recognising women's social and biological vulnerability to HIV. In particular, the paper considers the potential role of the workplace in responding to growing evidence that links gender and health by establishing targeted HIV/AIDS interventions. The findings suggest that the vast majority of company representatives do not recognise women's social and biological vulnerability and related social norms vis-à-vis HIV and AIDS. Importantly, most workplaces are not initiating programmes that specifically address women's or men's health. The author briefly identifies factors that may help explain the current state of knowledge and practice in the realm of HIV and women's health in the workplace, and puts forward suggestions for future research.     

山东省卫生技术人员健康相关行为调查

目的了解山东省卫生技术人员的健康状况。方法采用整群抽样的方法,随机抽取调查山东省不同地区9个县共2 902名卫生技术人员作为研究样本,通过第四次国家卫生服务调查表,得到卫生技术人员的健康相关行为的数据资料,应用描述性分析、χ2检验和Logistic检验等统计方法进行分析。结果 31.00%的卫生技术人员认为自己身体健康状况很好。焦虑发生率为22.54%。卫生技术人员吸烟率为10.3%,男性吸烟率为29.57%,远高于女性;饮酒率为2.62%,男性饮酒率为6.02%,远高于女性。每周参加3次及以上体育锻炼的人员只有27.26%;有35.04%的卫生技术人员睡眠质量一般。结论山东省卫生技术人员存在吸烟、饮酒等不良行为,有待于进一步改善。应加强对卫生技术人员的健康教育,倡导科学的生活行为方式,全面提高卫生技术人员的健康水平。