Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda.
Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2024 Sep 2;19(1):62. doi: 10.1186/s13722-024-00495-1.
Unhealthy alcohol use is a common public health problem in HIV care settings in Africa and it affects the HIV continuum of care. In Uganda and other low-income countries, HIV care providers are a key resource in caring for young people (15-24 years) living with HIV (YPLH) with unhealthy alcohol use. Caring for YPLH largely depends on care providers' perceptions of the problem. However, data that explores HIV care providers' perceptions about caring for YPLH with unhealthy drinking are lacking in Uganda. We sought to describe the perceptions of HIV care providers regarding caring for YPLH with unhealthy drinking in the Immune Suppression Syndrome (ISS) Clinic of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in southwestern Uganda.
We used semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs) to qualitatively explore HIV care providers' perceptions regarding caring for YPLH with unhealthy alcohol use. The study was conducted at the adolescent immunosuppression (ISS) clinic of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using thematic content analysis, data from 10 interviews were analyzed.
HIV care providers were concerned and intended to care for YPLH with unhealthy alcohol use. They understood that unhealthy drinking negatively impacts HIV care outcomes and used counseling, peer support, and referrals to routinely intervene. They however, did not apply other known interventions such as health education, medications and follow-up visits because these required family and institutional support which was largely lacking. Additional barriers that HCPs faced in caring for YPLH included; gaps in knowledge and skills required to address alcohol use in young patients, heavy workloads that hindered the provision of psychosocial interventions, late payment of and low remunerations, lack of improvement in some YPLH, and inadequate support from both their families and hospital management.
HIV care providers are important stakeholders in the identification and care of YPLH with unhealthy alcohol use in Southwestern Uganda. There is a need to train and skill HCPs in unhealthy alcohol use care. Such training ought to target the attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control of the providers.
在非洲的艾滋病护理环境中，不健康的饮酒行为是一个常见的公共卫生问题，它会影响艾滋病护理的连续性。在乌干达和其他低收入国家，艾滋病毒护理提供者是照顾有不健康饮酒行为的艾滋病毒感染者青少年（15-24 岁）的关键资源。照顾这些青少年在很大程度上取决于护理提供者对该问题的看法。然而，在乌干达，缺乏探索艾滋病毒护理提供者对照顾有不健康饮酒行为的青少年的看法的数据。我们旨在描述位于乌干达西南部姆巴拉拉地区转诊医院免疫抑制综合征（ISS）诊所的艾滋病毒护理提供者对照顾有不健康饮酒行为的青少年的看法。
我们使用半结构式深入访谈（IDIs）方法定性地探讨了艾滋病毒护理提供者对照顾有不健康饮酒行为的青少年的看法。该研究在姆巴拉拉地区转诊医院的青少年免疫抑制（ISS）诊所进行。访谈进行了录音并逐字记录。使用主题内容分析，对 10 次访谈的数据进行了分析。
艾滋病毒护理提供者对有不健康饮酒行为的青少年表示关注并打算照顾他们。他们明白，不健康的饮酒会对艾滋病毒护理结果产生负面影响，并经常使用咨询、同伴支持和转介来干预。然而，他们并没有应用其他已知的干预措施，如健康教育、药物治疗和随访，因为这些措施需要家庭和机构的支持，而这在很大程度上是缺乏的。护理提供者在照顾有不健康饮酒行为的青少年时面临的其他障碍包括：缺乏解决年轻患者饮酒问题所需的知识和技能，工作量大，阻碍了心理社会干预的提供，薪酬延迟和低薪酬，一些青少年的情况没有改善，以及来自家庭和医院管理层的支持不足。
艾滋病毒护理提供者是乌干达西南部识别和照顾有不健康饮酒行为的青少年的重要利益相关者。需要培训和提高艾滋病毒护理人员在不健康饮酒护理方面的技能。这种培训应该针对提供者的态度、主观规范和感知控制。
