NARI study finds bias in doctors, nurses while treating HIV affected

[Guest guest]

NARI study finds bias in doctors, nurses while treating HIV affected

Implicit Association Test measures stigma, shows feelings exhibited

in a rapidfire session

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Pune, November 7: IN the world of people affected with HIV/AIDS,

discrimination and bias are open secrets. Patients are often

disowned by their families, left to care for themselves and young

children are often turned away by locals schools.

Now, the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) at Bhosari has

found that an unconscious bias does exist even among doctors and

nurses while treating HIV patients. In a first-of-its-kind study

to `measure' stigma in health settings, NARI has developed an

Implicit Association Test (IAT) that examines the thoughts and

unconscious feelings of healthcare providers while treating patients

with HIV.

NARI researchers, who developed this test to suit the Indian

culture, say the IAT was used to guage the implicit and explicit

attitudes of healthcare providers. Some 200 doctors and nurses in

three government hospitals in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad for the last

two years took the test. The study was done in collaboration with

Yale University, USA, NARI director Dr R S Paranjape said.

The IAT was introduced to assess attitudes related to race and

gender issues in the West and reveals the existence of discrepancy

between implicit and explicit attitudes.

" This is a self-administered test and the study showed a wide range

of feelings exhibited by clinicians. Stigma definitely exists at

both implicit and explicit levels among the healthcare providers.

For doctors, AIDS is often a fatal disease while nurses

significantly associate AIDS as a sexually transmitted disease,''

said NARI deputy director (senior grade) Dr Nita Mawar.

These attitudes eventually lead to discrimination against the HIV

patient who is isolated in the ward and often the last one to get

treated, said Mawar who is also the head of the Social and

Behavioural division of NARI.

At NARI, the test was developed specifically to suit the Indian

sensibility. It is a quickly administered tool that asks 20

questions to be answered in 20 seconds. It tested the unconscious

response of an individual to a specific stimuli. For instance,

doctors were asked questions like is AIDS good or bad in relation to

cholera, leukaemia or syphilis. " Basically, the tool was devised to

measure stigma associated with HIV/AIDS as a fatal disease or as a

sexually transmitted disease or as an infectious disease,'' explains

Mawar.

While studies have been initiated globally on HIV/AIDS related

stigma, the two-year study strongly recommended that inconsistent

knowledge, beliefs and standards of care for HIV positive patients

by the hospital staff should urgently be addressed through

comprehensive training to focus on HIV/AIDS care standards,

universal safety precautions, patients sensitivity and modified

standards.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=208643

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

What NARI study found is a fact. stigma and discrimination is common in the

medical colleges even in the most literate people domiciled kerala.

Unconscious inattention to HIV patients is common among doctors.

Several times many patients reported discrimination from nurses. one VCTC

counsellor told me abt a nurse who didn't gave any attention to the painful cry

of an hiv affected lady. it was heard that the nurse commented ' SHE'S AN HIV

PATIENT. LET HER SUFFER SOME PAIN'. If this is the case in kerala we can imagine

those issues in other states.

Smothered cries due to such malfunctionings should come out vociferously.

Terence.

research scholar,

dept. of psychology,

calicut university,

kerala

e-mail: <jeanterence@...>