Associations between health literacy, HIV-related knowledge, and information behavior among persons living with HIV in the Dominican Republic.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the health literacy levels of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLWH) at a health clinic in the Dominican Republic (DR) and assess associations between health literacy, HIV-related knowledge, and health information behavior (how patients need, seek, receive, and use information). DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Cross-sectional, descriptive. Participants were 107 PLWH attending the Clinic. MEASURES: A theoretically based, 64-item survey assessing information behavior and HIV-related knowledge was administered in Spanish through individual interviews. Health literacy was assessed using the Short Assessment of Health Literacy-Spanish and English. RESULTS: On average, participants were 40.8 years old and had lived with HIV for 7.7 years. The majority (69.2%) had low health literacy. HIV-related knowledge and information behavior varied by health literacy level and uncertainty regarding a main indicator of disease progression, viral load, was demonstrated regardless of health literacy level. Participants with low health literacy were less likely to answer questions or answer questions correctly and many participants (39.2%) indicated viral transmission can occur through supernatural means. CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate unmet information need and that information received may not always be understood. Methods to improve health education are needed to ensure patients receive health information in an understandable way.

Factors Associated with Health Information Seeking, Processing, and Use Among HIV Positive Adults in the Dominican Republic.

Effective treatment and management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) depend on patients' ability to locate, comprehend, and apply health information. This study's purpose was to identify characteristics associated with these skills among HIV positive adults in the Dominican Republic. An information behavior survey was administered to 107 participants then three logistic regressions were conducted to identify characteristics associated with information seeking, processing, and use. Never having cared for someone who was sick was significantly associated with less information seeking, processing, and use. Males were more likely to be active information seekers and those who had attended the clinic for six or fewer years were less likely to actively seek information. Younger individuals had increased odds of higher information processing and those without comorbidities had increased odds of more information use. Results may inform researchers, organizations, and providers about how patients interact with health information in limited resource settings.

Disclosure of their status to youth with human immunodeficiency virus infection in the Dominican Republic: a mixed-methods study.

A mixed-methods study was conducted to determine the proportion of HIV-infected children who knew their status, identify characteristics associated with children's knowledge of their status, and describe caregivers' and adolescents' experiences relevant to disclosure in the Dominican Republic (DR). Of 327 patients aged 6-18 years treated in the principal DR pediatric HIV facilities, 74 (22.6 %) knew their status. Patients aged 13 years or older and/or who had participated in non-clinical activities for HIV-infected children were more likely to know their status. Caregivers who had disclosed cited healthcare providers' advice, children's desire to know and concerns that children might initiate sexual activity before knowing or discover their status by accidental or malicious disclosure. Non-disclosing caregivers worried that children would be traumatized by disclosure and/or stigmatized if they revealed it to others. Adolescents supported disclosure by 10-12 years of age, considered withholding of children's HIV diagnosis ill-advised, and recommended a disclosure process focused initially on promoting non-stigmatizing attitudes about HIV.

Depression in caregivers of status-naïve pediatric HIV patients participating in a status disclosure study in Haiti and the Dominican Republic: preliminary report.

A pilot study is underway to assess safety and acceptability of an intervention to disclose their HIV infection status to status-naïve pediatric antiretroviral therapy patients in Hispaniola [the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR)]. Of 22 Haiti and 47 DR caregivers recruited to date, 68.2% Haiti and 34.0% DR caregivers had clinically significant depressive symptomatology at the time of enrollment (p = 0.008). Depressive symptom prevalence was higher in Haiti caregivers who were female (81.3% vs. 0 in males; p = 0.02) and in DR caregivers who were patients' mothers (50.0%) or grandmothers (66.7%; 56.0% combined) than others (9.1%), (p < 0.001). Internalized stigma was more commonly reported by Haiti (85.7%) than DR (53.2%; p = 0.01) caregivers; 56.4% of Haiti and DR caregivers reporting internalized stigma vs. 26.1% of caregivers denying it had depressive symptoms (p = 0.02). Depression is common in Hispaniola caregivers possibly affecting disclosure timing. Study participation presents opportunities for addressing caregiver depression.

Strengthening the HIV Care Continuum in the Dominican Republic: Application of a Triadic Implementation Framework to Meet the UNAIDS 90-90-90 Treatment Goal.

Innovative empirical frameworks to evaluate progress in efforts addressing HIV treatment and prevention barriers in resource-limited areas are sorely needed to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal (90% diagnosed, 90% on treatment, and 90% virally suppressed). A triadic implementation framework (TIF) is a comprehensive conceptual tool for (1) monitoring attrition, (2) evaluating operational programs, and (3) measuring the impact of specific implementation goals within the care continuum. TIF will assess the effects of enhanced programs on adherence and virologic suppression within the HIV care continuum at a regional clinic in the Dominican Republic (Clínica de Familia La Romana [CFLR]) and its program serving high-risk, migratory batey (sugarcane cultivation) communities. A retrospective cohort study completed during 2015 collected deidentified data from a CFLR chart review of adult HIV patients diagnosed in 2013. The results were quantitatively analyzed and compared to 2011 cohort data. In 2013, 310 patients were diagnosed HIV positive. The results demonstrated 73% enrolling in care, 28% adhering to care, and 16% achieving viral load suppression. Engagement increased across all steps of the care continuum compared to a 2011 cohort, culminating in a significant increase in undetectable viral load from 4% to 16% (p < 0.001). The batey program showed significant increases in patient enrollment compared to the 2011 cohort (p < 0.001). Meeting the UNAIDS 90-90-90 goal requires enhanced services in high-burden, resource-limited regions. CFLR employs TIF to assess progress and programmatic areas in need of strengthening. Data suggest enhanced CFLR services improve outcomes. Given improvements, maintenance and expansion of similar programs are warranted to achieve the 90-90-90 goal.

Severe, Disfiguring, Pityriasis Rubra Pilaris in a Woman in the Dominican Republic: Histopathologic Diagnosis and Response to Antiretroviral Therapy.

Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) is a poorly understood dermatologic condition usually accompanied by keratoderma and intense erythroderma with islands of unaffected skin. The PRP categories include HIV-associated PRP VI. A 23-year-old HIV-infected, dark-skinned woman in the Dominican Republic developed an extremely severe, disfiguring process characterized first by a dry scaly rash involving her face, trunk, and extremities with hyperpigmentation and islands of spared skin and minimal erythroderma, followed by alopecia and development of a thick horny layer on the scalp and face. The condition, histologically proven to be PRP, was accompanied by fever, wasting, and decline in CD4 count. Initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) was followed by rapid and sustained resolution of PRP. Nine years after ART initiation, she remains well, with viral suppression and immune recovery, without PRP recurrence but with sparse hair regrowth and facial scarring. In some dark-skinned patients, severe PRP may not feature characteristic erythroderma but will respond to combination ART.

Sharing a Piece of the PIIE: Program of International Interprofessional Education/Programa Internacional Interprofesional Educativo.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education and global health are priorities in health professions education. Health organizations such as the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization recommend that education of health care providers be interdisciplinary and use technology. METHOD: A webinar took place between adult gerontology nurse practitioner (AGNP) students in the United States and the providers of a clinic in the Dominican Republic. The providers from the Dominican Republic presented a case typical of their practices but one with which AGNP students were not familiar. Similarly, the AGNP students presented a case representing new information for the Dominican providers. RESULTS: All participants responded positively to the webinar, primarily because of the technological and case-based approach to learning; they benefitted from disease review and interprofessional collaboration. CONCLUSION: A webinar format across clinical settings and countries is a novel interprofessional way to disseminate information in a mutually beneficial way.

Disclosure of their HIV status to perinatally infected youth using the adapted Blasini disclosure model in Haiti and the Dominican Republic: preliminary results.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the safety, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a culturally-adapted disclosure intervention for perinatally HIV-infected combined antiretroviral therapy patients in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental trial was conducted comparing caregiver-youth pairs who completed the intervention [adapted Blasini disclosure model (aBDM)] to pairs who discontinued aBDM participation before disclosure. aBDM consists of five components: structured healthcare worker training; one-on one pre-disclosure intervention/education sessions for youth (describing pediatric chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes and HIV) and for caregivers (strengthening capacity for disclosure); a scheduled supportive disclosure session; and one-on-one postdisclosure support for caregivers and youth. METHODS: Caregivers of nondisclosed combined antiretroviral therapy patients aged 10.0-17.8 years were invited to participate. Data were collected by separate one-on-one face-to-face interviews of caregivers and youth by study staff and medical record review by pediatricians at enrollment and 3 months after disclosure or after intervention discontinuation. RESULTS: To date, 65 Dominican Republic and 27 Haiti caregiver-youth pairs have enrolled. At enrollment, only 46.4% of youth had viral suppression and 43.4% of caregivers had clinically significant depressive symptomatology. To date, two serious study-related adverse events have occurred. Seven of the 92 (7.6%, 6 in the Dominican Republic) enrolled pairs discontinued participation before disclosure and 39 had completed postdisclosure participation. Median plasma HIV-RNA concentration was lower in youth who completed aBDM than in youth who discontinued participation before aBDM disclosure (<40 versus 8673 copies/ml; P = 0.027). Completers expressed considerable satisfaction with aBDM. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results suggest safety, acceptability, and possible effectiveness of the aBDM.

G6PD Deficiency in an HIV Clinic Setting in the Dominican Republic.

Because human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients receive prophylaxis with oxidative drugs, those with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency may experience hemolysis. However, G6PD deficiency has not been studied in the Dominican Republic, where many individuals have African ancestry. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in Dominican HIV-infected patients and to attempt to develop a cost-effective algorithm for identifying such individuals. To this end, histories, chart reviews, and G6PD testing were performed for 238 consecutive HIV-infected adult clinic patients. The overall prevalence of G6PD deficiency (8.8%) was similar in males (9.3%) and females (8.5%), and higher in Haitians (18%) than Dominicans (6.4%; P = 0.01). By logistic regression, three clinical variables predicted G6PD status: maternal country of birth (P = 0.01) and a history of hemolysis (P = 0.01) or severe anemia (P = 0.03). Using these criteria, an algorithm was developed, in which a patient subset was identified that would benefit most from G6PD screening, yielding a sensitivity of 94.7% and a specificity of 97.2%, increasing the pretest probability (8.8-15.1%), and halving the number of patients needing testing. This algorithm may provide a cost-effective strategy for improving care in resource-limited settings.