A growing number of cases of HIV infection are being diagnosed in rural communities especially among women. Although HIV-specific education and care delivery programs have been focused on rural areas in recent years, limited data are available on the impact of such initiatives on the lives of women with HIV infection. The purpose of this study was to examine characteristics of women with HIV disease living in rural communities. The study used a cross-sectional sample of rural women in Georgia. Data analysis indicated that although a majority of the women reported adequate resources, there was a group of women for whom resources for basic needs were not always adequate. Additionally, women with HIV who had not progressed to AIDS had greater difficulty in obtaining a number of resources. Almost half of the women felt stigmatized due to having HIV. Yet, a high percentage of these women had disclosed their HIV status to health care workers, sexual partners, and family. Study results provide insight into the needs of HIV-infected rural women from their perspective. This information can be important to nurses working in public health and community settings as they face the challenge of developing effective health care services for this population.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of social (social support, material resources, disclosure, and family functioning) and psychological factors (stigma, emotional distress, intrusion, avoidance, and fatalism) as predictors of the quality of life of women infected with HIV. The cross-sectional data were drawn from interviews of a sample of 264 women recruited from 8 HIV/AIDS treatment sites in a south-eastern state. Variance in quality of life variables, included limited daily functioning, general anxiety, and HIV symptoms was analyzed using ANOVA, correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Limited daily functioning was predicted by stigma, fatalism, employment status, and stage of disease (R2 = 0.179). General anxiety was predicted by emotional distress, intrusion, and marital status (R2 = 0.503). Reported HIV symptoms were predicted by material resources, disclosure, intrusion, age, employment status, and race (R2 = 0.294). The results of this study support that social and, particularly, psychological factors are important in their influence on quality of life in women with HIV infection and suggest the need for interventions which address such factors.

This study examined whether preterm infants are more vulnerable to the effects of prenatal drug exposure than are full-term infants. The sample of 235 low-income African American mothers and their infants included 119 cocaine-polydrug users, 19 alcohol-only users, and 97 nonusers; 148 infants were full term and 87 were preterm. Direct effects of exposure on birth weight, birth length, ponderal index, and irritability were moderated by length of gestation: Fetal growth deficits were more extreme in later-born infants, whereas increases in irritability were more extreme in earlier born infants. Effects of exposure on cardiorespiratory reactivity to a neonatal exam were not moderated by length of gestation. In general, effects of exposure occurred for both cocaine-polydrug and alcohol only users and so could not be unambiguously attributed to either of these drugs alone.

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