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.

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