Aggarwal Sahil, Lee Debora H, Minteer William B, Fenning Reece T H, Raja Shella K, Bernstein Megan E, Raman Kaavya R, Denny Sean P, Patel Priya A, Lieber Mark, Farfel Allison O, Diamond Catherine A
1 School of Medicine, University of California , Irvine, California.
2 Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California , Irvine School of Medicine, Orange, California.
AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2017 Feb;31(2):87-95. doi: 10.1089/apc.2016.0175. Epub 2017 Jan 18.
HIV-related stigma remains a persistent global health concern among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA) in developing nations. The literature is lacking in studies about healthcare students' perceptions of PLWA. This study is the first effort to understand stigmatizing attitudes toward HIV-positive patients by healthcare students in Mwanza, Tanzania, not just those who will be directly treating patients but also those who will be indirectly involved through nonclinical roles, such as handling patient specimens and private health information. A total of 208 students were drawn from Clinical Medicine, Laboratory Sciences, Health Records and Information Management, and Community Health classes at the Tandabui Institute of Health Sciences and Technology for a voluntary survey that assessed stigmatizing beliefs toward PLWA. Students generally obtained high scores on the overall survey instrument, pointing to low stigmatizing beliefs toward PLWA and an overall willingness to treat PLWA with the same standard of care as other patients. However, there are gaps in knowledge that exist among students, such as a comprehensive understanding of all routes of HIV infection. The study also suggests that students who interact with patients as part of their training are less likely to exhibit stigmatizing beliefs toward PLWA. A comprehensive course in HIV infection, one that includes classroom sessions focused on the epidemiology and routes of transmission as well as clinical opportunities to directly interact with PLWA-perhaps through teaching sessions led by PLWA-may allow for significant reductions in stigma toward such patients and improve clinical outcomes for PLWA around the world.
在发展中国家，与艾滋病毒相关的污名化仍然是艾滋病毒/艾滋病感染者（PLWA）持续面临的全球健康问题。目前缺乏关于医学生对PLWA看法的研究文献。本研究首次尝试了解坦桑尼亚姆万扎医学生对艾滋病毒呈阳性患者的污名化态度，不仅包括那些将直接治疗患者的学生，还包括那些将通过非临床角色间接参与的学生，如处理患者标本和私人健康信息。从坦达布伊健康科学与技术学院的临床医学、实验室科学、健康记录与信息管理以及社区健康课程中抽取了208名学生进行一项自愿调查，该调查评估了对PLWA的污名化信念。学生们在总体调查问卷上的得分普遍较高，表明对PLWA的污名化信念较低，并且总体上愿意以与其他患者相同的护理标准来治疗PLWA。然而，学生们在知识方面存在差距，比如对艾滋病毒所有感染途径的全面理解。该研究还表明，在培训中与患者互动的学生对PLWA表现出污名化信念的可能性较小。一门关于艾滋病毒感染的综合课程，包括专注于流行病学和传播途径的课堂教学以及直接与PLWA互动的临床机会——也许是通过由PLWA主导的教学课程——可能会大幅减少对这类患者的污名化，并改善全球PLWA的临床治疗效果。
