The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #71437

Milagritos González-Rivera, PhD, Department of Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, PO Box 5000, Mayaguez, PR 00683, 787-892-0073, mgonzalpr@aol.com, Jose Rafael Morales, MD, HIV/AIDS Bureau, HRSA, USDHHS, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rm 7A-21, Rockville, MD 20857, and Wanda Acosta, RN, Special Projects, Migrant Health Clinic, Migrant Health Clinic, Mayaguez, PR 00681.

Fifty-five percent (n=30) of he women clients at the Migrant Health Clinic in Western Puerto Rico living with HIV/AIDS participated in the study. A formative phase including focus groups and a second phase with the administration of a questionnaire in individual interviews were used to collect the data. The clinic's staff recruited all eligible women. All the participants have had at least one Pap smear during their lives and most of them have had at least one Pap smear during the last three years. Individual, social and institutional procedural variables were identified as barriers for the compliance rates with the Pap smear recommendation for women with HIV/AIDS (one Pap smear every six months). The main individual variables were: misconceptions about the exam and the instruments used in the exam, fear and embarrassment during the exam and previous experiences of pain during the first Pap smear. Two main social variables were: the male partners disapproval of the exam, and the perception of a social norm among Puerto Rican women against the exam. Institutional procedural variables identified were: preference for afternoon or evening appointment schedules, preference for gynecologists to perform the exam, need to receive information about the results, communication with the physician, physicians' orders of the exam, reminders of the appointments, and control and options for scheduling the appointment. Qualitative and quantitative results will be displayed in the poster. The conclusions show a short term plan to overcome the different levels of barriers and to enhance the compliance rates.

Learning Objectives:

• Readers and visitors to the poster presentation will be able to:
• a. Review their knowledge about the relevance of compliance with Pap smears for women with HIV-AIDS.
• b. Identify the social and institutional barriers that interfere with Puerto Rican women's with HIV/AIDS compliance with Pap smears.
• c. Recognize alternatives to help the women and the institutions to overcome the barriers to compliance with Pap smears.

Keywords: Prevention, Women and HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.