Healthcare professionals have been encouraged to improve their understanding of the needs of pregnant women with HIV for World AIDS Day.
Developed by researchers at School of Nursing and Midwifery at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, a new resource is aimed mainly at maternity care staff.
It comprises various modules that follow the actions that should be taken from the moment a woman with HIV and her partner decide to have a baby through to post-natal care.
The project analysed the experiences of ten women and five men from the preconception to post-natal period, and was supported by a Knowledge Transfer Award from the HSC R&D Division of the Public Health Agency. The web resource includes the case study of one of the HIV positive woman.
World Aids Day is on Sunday.
Study leader Dr Carmel Kelly, nurse consultant in sexual health at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “This research is hugely significant as it gives a voice to people with HIV into their care in this area.
“While our resource incorporates key medical information, an equally important focus was on developing an innovative way of communicating the human stories from our research. The key finding is that pregnancy is a normal and achievable goal for any HIV-positive woman and her partner.
“Healthcare professionals will have a better understanding of the needs of HIV affected women and their partners as a result of this resource and in turn the care for patients and meeting their needs will be improved.”
Dr Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer, said: “World AIDS Day is a global opportunity to raise awareness, reduce stigma and improve education to better our response to HIV and AIDS. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection can be greatly reduced through early diagnosis of maternal HIV infection, early intervention, and proper antenatal and post-natal care. Understanding the needs of HIV-positive women who are considering family planning is the first step to preventing this mode of HIV infection.”
Professor Fiona Alderdice, director of research at the School of Nursing & Midwifery at Queen’s, added: “Improving health and healthcare experience requires that nurses and midwives have access to education which is evidence based and clinically relevant. We are committed to working with our partners in health and social care to ensure that the learning from the research we conduct, impacts on the practitioner at the patient’s bedside.”
Leave a Reply