212165 Analyzing HIV/AIDS knowledge among African American and Hispanic migrant workers

Monday, November 9, 2009

Muni Balakrishnan Rubens, MBBS , Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Anamika Batra, BDS , Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Virginia H. McCoy, PhD , Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
Manny Estrada, MPH , Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, FL
  
Background: Considering the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among migrant workers (MW), there is an indispensable need for educating this vulnerable group on HIV/AIDS.

Methods: Baseline data from a current HIV/AIDS intervention study was used to assess HIV/AIDS-related knowledge among MW. Seventy seven African-Americans (AA) and 149 Hispanics were interviewed using a 37-item questionnaire which analyzed participants' knowledge at various sub-levels, including mode of transmission and risk factors for infection. A comparison was made on level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS between AA and Hispanics using Chi-square tests.

Results: Significant differences in the level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS were observed between AA and Hispanics. AA displayed better knowledge than Hispanics in answering following questions: AIDS is a disease that only gay people get (93.8%, p<0.001), people with AIDS have other diseases as a result of AIDS (70.9%, p<0.05), if a person touches someone with AIDS, he/she can get AIDS (92.1%, p<0.01), AIDS can be spread by comb/hairbrush (82.8%, p<0.05), if IV drug users clean dirty needles with water it will keep them from getting AIDS (89.4%, p<0.001), people can get AIDS from mosquito bite (80.3%, p<0.01), a person can always tell if someone is infected with AIDS virus (81.5%, p<0.05), a person who tests positive is infected with the virus but cannot infect others (87.9%, p<0.01).

Conclusions: Hispanics have lower levels of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge placing them at higher risk of HIV infection. Hence consideration of unique ethnic, social, and cultural characteristics of MW is necessary while developing HIV prevention programs.

Learning Objectives:
To analyze characteristics and particular challenges migrant workers are facing with respect to HIV/AIDS To identify the factors affecting the level of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge among migrant workers To describe the importance of assessing HIV/AIDS knowledge at first, while designing prevention models

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Migrant Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I�m a graduate student in public health from Florida International University, Miami and I�ve been working with my professor Dr. Virginia McCoy in her research for more than a year. The research is an HIV/AIDS intervention program assessing the effectiveness of an Enhanced/Adapted Cognitive Behavioral program in comparison to a Health Promotion Comparison program among migrant farm workers in rural Florida. I�m actively associated with this program, especially in quality control, data entry, and data analysis. Being an author of three abstracts on HIV/AIDS research, my experience in presenting poster in last year�s APHA prove my aptness for the position as an author and presenter of this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Committee on Affiliates Student Posters
See more of: APHA-Committee on Affiliates