Stigmatized attitudes toward people living with HIV in Bangladesh: health care workers' perspectives.

This study was conducted among 526 health care workers (HCWs) in Bangladesh to identify the levels and correlates of stigmatized attitudes toward people living with HIV (PLHIV). HIV-related stigmatized attitudes were measured by a set of items that reflected avoidance attitude of HCWs in hypothetical situations. A multiple linear regression model identified the following correlates of stigma: higher age, high level of irrational fear about HIV and AIDS, being HCW other than a doctor, working in teaching hospital, and rating religion as very important in their life (R (2) = .502). The findings are important for both public health policy planners and human rights activists as high prevalence of stigmatized attitudes among HCWs influence the decision-making process of PLHIV and stop them from accessing voluntary counseling and testing, care, support, and treatment services

Young children\u27s comprehension of complex sentences.

Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1978 .K566. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1978

Special theme on HIV and disability - time for closer bonds

With the success of antiretrovirals and increased access to this lifesaving treatment, the life expectancy of people living with HIV has been substantially increased and, in many instances, is comparable to that of the general population. However, HIV infection, as well as its treatment, can cause physical, psychological or social disabilities that prevent people living with HIV from full and equal participation in society. At the same time, there is evidence that people with disabilities are at greater risk of contracting HIV. Although more attention is being paid to these overlapping fields, the field of HIV and disability remains largely overlooked

Sexual negotiation in the AIDS era: negotiated safety revisited

Objective: To test the safety of the 'negotiated safety' strategy - the strategy of dispensing with condoms within HIV-seronegative concordant regular sexual relationships under certain conditions. Method: Data from a recently recruited cohort of homosexually active men (Sydney Men and Sexual Health cohort, n = 1037) are used to revisit negotiated safety. The men were surveyed using a structured questionnaire and questions addressing their sexual relationships and practice, their own and their regular partner's serostatus, agreements entered into by the men concerning sexual practice within and outside their regular relationship, and contextual and demographic variables. Results: The findings indicate that a significant number of men used negotiated safety as an HIV prevention strategy. In the 6 months prior to interview, of the 181 men in seroconcordant HIV-negative regular relationships, 62% had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse within their relationship, and 91% (165 men) had not engaged in unprotected anal intercourse outside their relationship. Of these 165 men, 82% had negotiated agreements about sex outside their relationship. The safety of negotiation was dependent not only on seroconcordance but also on the presence of an agreement; 82% of the men who had not engaged in unprotected anal intercourse outside their regular relationship had entered into an agreement with their partner, whereas only 56% of those who had engaged in unprotected anal intercourse had an agreement. The safety of negotiation was also related to the nature of the safety agreement reached between the men and on the acceptability of condoms. Agreements between HIV-negative seroconcordant regular partners prohibiting anal intercourse with casual partners or any form of sex with a casual partner were typically complied with, and men who had such negotiated agreements were at low risk of HIV infection. Conclusions: The adoption of the strategy of negotiated safety among men in HIV-seronegative regular relationships may help such men sustain the safety of their sexual practice

Using the Mass Media

Patterns of media use in an urban setting are related to media gratification processes, but the relationship of media use to the needs of the media users is a complex one. Television, newspapers, and books are perceived as the most helpful media sources of need gratification, while radio, magazines, and films are perceived as less helpful. Use of the media is, in general, related to their perceived helpfulness. However, use of the media is not clearly related to the expressed needs of the audience members. The media appear to form two groups, books, magazines, and films as contrasted to radio, television, and newspapers. This dichotomy appears to be based not only on content but on availability and accessibility.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67162/2/10.1177_009365028000700304.pd

Visioning services for children affected by HIV and AIDS through a family lens

The HIV epidemic continues to place a great burden on children, from loss of parents and income to severe disruptions of their homes and families. Underpinned by the understanding that a healthy family constitutes the foundation for a child's wellbeing, the importance of family-centred care and services for children is increasingly recognized. It is not enough to merely provide antiretrovirals: it is of pivotal importance that treatment and care for children are integrated into the broader context of family-support schemes. However, despite growing evidence of the benefits of family-centred services, reforms in favour of family oriented HIV interventions have been slow to emerge. Treatment, prevention and care interventions often target individuals, and not families and communities

Bridging the social and the biomedical: engaging the social and political sciences in HIV research

This supplement to the Journal of the International AIDS Society focuses on the engagement of the social and political sciences within HIV research and, in particular, maintaining a productive relationship between social and biomedical perspectives on HIV. It responds to a number of concerns raised primarily by social scientists, but also recognized as important by biomedical and public health researchers. These concerns include how best to understand the impact of medical technologies (such as HIV treatments, HIV testing, viral load testing, male circumcision, microbicides, and pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis) on sexual cultures, drug practices, relationships and social networks in different cultural, economic and political contexts. The supplement is also concerned with how we might examine the relationship between HIV prevention and treatment, understand the social and political mobilization required to tackle HIV, and sustain the range of disciplinary approaches needed to inform and guide responses to the global pandemic. The six articles included in the supplement demonstrate the value of fostering high quality social and political research to inform, guide and challenge our collaborative responses to HIV/AIDS

A wager on the future: a practicable response to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the stubborn fact of process

In this article we focus on public health’s wager on the social implications of a daily antiretroviral pill to prevent HIV, referred to as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). The wager is shown to rely on modes of inquiry overly tied to what is known of the present in order to predict the future. Although such inquiry is not unusual when social research is called upon to assist health policy, predictive methodologies are unable to appreciate the dynamic and thus indeterminate nature of process. We ask: what mode of inquiry might practicably appreciate that what happens in the present will have a bearing on the future, without foreclosing on unknown possibles? Drawing on speculative and pragmatic philosophy, we reflect on our own qualitative research on PrEP to suggest that conventional methodological approaches can contribute to the future without seeking to determine what it will become