CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Learning what works best in helping low-income black mothers cope with HIV is the goal of a new study now under way at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"We are trying to help women learn more about infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and cope better both with the disease and their feelings about it," said Dr. Margaret S. Miles, professor at the UNC-CH School of Nursing.
The study Miles directs, supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research, will determine the effectiveness of a program of home visits that involve counseling and teaching. She and her colleagues hope the program will prove successful enough that it can be adopted around the United States to help thousands of women with HIV or other conditions.
"Specifically, we are helping women gain an understanding of HIV as a chronic disease which can be treated with medications and which necessitates good health promotion and disease prevention to extend life and improve health," she said. "We use mothers' concerns about staying healthy so they can take care of their children to motivate them."
Information packets discuss diet and exercise; understanding, preventing and managing infections; preventing and managing female problems; and coping with depression, thinking problems, apathy and skin conditions. Registered nurses visit mothers at home six times in three months and establish therapeutic relationships in which they encourage patients to share their feelings and concerns.
About half the women receive in-home visits, while the others in a control group receive only standard care. So far, 71 women have been recruited.
"We collect mental and physical health information from all participants
before and after the intervention," Miles said. "Women in the intervention group
appear to like what we are doing and overall feel they have learned a lot about
how to manage their lives w
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Contact: David L. Williamson
rdtokids@email.unc.edu
919-962-8596
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
8-Jul-1998