Objective-To explore optimism/pessimism, knowledge of HIV, and attitudes toward HIV screening and treatment among Ghanaian pregnant women.Method-Pregnant women in Accra, Ghana completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Life Orientation Test -Revised (LOT-R, an optimism/pessimism measure), an HIV knowledge Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
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Author ManuscriptWomens Health Issues. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 July 1. and screening attitudes questionnaire, the Short Form 12 (SF-12, a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQOL)), and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, correlations, chi-square.Result-N=101, 28% nulliparious; 31.8 mean weeks gestation, 29.7 mean age. 100% had heard of AIDS, 27.7% had been tested for HIV before this pregnancy, 46.5% had been tested during this pregnancy, and 59.4% of the sample had ever been tested for HIV. Of those not tested during this pregnancy, 64.2% were willing to be tested. Of all respondents, 89% said they would get tested if ARVs were readily available and might prevent maternal-to-child transmission. Neither optimism/ pessimism nor HRQOL was associated with attitudes toward HIV screening. Optimism was negatively correlated with HIV knowledge (p=.001) and was positively correlated with having never been tested prior to this pregnancy (p=.007).
Conclusion-The relationship between optimism/pessimism and HIV knowledge and screening behavior is worthy of further study using larger samples and objective measures of testing beyond self-report.
Some type of reinforcement is needed following initial training. Programs must consider what is most practical in terms of existing supervision systems and budgets. Individual application of KIT is primarily appropriate for programs that already conduct routine supervisory visits of individual providers and can integrate KIT. Group KIT or traditional refresher training produce slightly lower results at significantly less cost.
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