| Autor: |
Rouhani SA; a Department of Emergency Medicine , Brigham and Women's Hospital , Boston , MA , USA.; b Department of Emergency Medicine , Harvard Medical School , Boston , MA , USA., O'Laughlin KN; a Department of Emergency Medicine , Brigham and Women's Hospital , Boston , MA , USA.; b Department of Emergency Medicine , Harvard Medical School , Boston , MA , USA.; c Medical Practice Evaluation Center , Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston , MA , USA., Faustin ZM; d Bugema University , Kampala , Uganda., Tsai AC; e Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) , MGH Global Health , Boston , MA , USA.; f Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies , Cambridge , MA , USA., Kasozi J; g United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , Kampala , Uganda., Ware NC; h Department of Global Health and Social Medicine , Harvard Medical School , Boston , MA , USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
Little is known about the factors that encourage or discourage refugees to test for HIV, or to access and adhere to HIV care. In non-refugee populations, social support has been shown to influence HIV testing and utilisation of services. The present study enrolled HIV-infected refugees on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in Uganda, who participated in qualitative interviews on HIV testing, treatment, and adherence. Interviews were analysed for themes about four types of social support: emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal support. A total of 61 interviews were analysed. Four roles for these types of social support were identified: (1) informational support encouraged refugees to test for HIV; (2) emotional support helped refugees cope with a diagnosis of HIV; (3) instrumental support facilitated adherence to ART and (4) after diagnosis, HIV-infected refugees provided informational and emotional support to encourage other refugees to test for HIV. These results suggest that social support influences HIV testing and treatment among refugees. Future interventions should capitalise on social support within a refugee settlement to facilitate testing and treatment. |
