Understanding Health Literacy for People Living With HIV: Locations of Learning.
Teri G Lindgren, Darcel Reyes, Lucille Eller and 16 others
PMID 29248420WHAT IT FOUND
People living with HIV trusted clinics and care teams for medical facts, but sought peers, support groups, community organizations and home contacts for how to live with HIV.
Care teams repeated basics and were used to check information.
Key findings
01Learning about HIV happened in physical locations, including institutions, community-based organizations and home or street, and in virtual locations, including media, the Internet and research.
02Most client teaching was done by professional care team members, especially nurses, case managers, social workers and sometimes pharmacists.
03Hospitals and clinics were trusted for medical information, while community organizations, support groups and peers were important for understanding how to live with HIV.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited from clinics, hospitals and community organizations and were compensated, so the sample may over-represent people who already frequented these venues, understood HIV treatment and were engaged in ongoing care. The focus groups asked about information sources and information seeking, so other aspects of health literacy may not be captured. The study did not collect adherence or viral load data, so it cannot show whether a learning location improved or worsened treatment adherence. People living with HIV with a score of 20 or less on a brief cognitive screen were excluded, so it says little about patients with significant cognitive impairment. The analysis did not aim for saturation, so themes may not be complete for every site or group.
Declared interests
The paper lists N.I.H. extramural and non-U.S. government research support. No author conflict-of-interest statement is reported in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these locations as evidence that peer support, Internet use or nurse teaching improves HIV outcomes. The study describes where people said they learned and whom they trusted. It did not collect adherence or viral load data, so it cannot show whether any location changed those outcomes.