Willingness to Provide HIV/AIDS Caregiving Among African-American Women

• Other Authors: Saylor, Danette Green (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Education
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-2063

The purpose of the research was to study factors related to African-American women's willingness to be caregivers of a loved one with HIV/AIDS. Willingness to care for a person with this progressive disease was examined in terms of the women's knowledge about HIV/AIDS, beliefs about HIV/AIDS, and HIV/AIDS related risk-taking behavior. This study also assessed the association African-American women's willingness to care with six demographic variables: Age; Geographic Location; Religiosity; Having a friend or co-worker with HIV/AIDS; Having a friend or co-worker with a chronic illness other than HIV/AIDS; and Caregiving History. This convenience sample consisted of African-American women (N=102) between the ages of 21-66 residing in and around the Big Bend area of North Florida. Willingness to care was defined by the Willingness to Care Scale (WTC; Abell, 2001). The WTC measures an individual's attitude toward providing emotional, instrumental, and physical support to a person living with AIDS. Knowledge, beliefs, and risk behaviors were measured by the AIDS Knowledge, Feelings, and Behavior Questionnaire (AKFBQ; Dancy, 1991). The scales of the AKFBQ included HIV/AIDS Knowledge (basic facts, transmission and prevention), HIV/AIDS Risk Behavior (sexual behavior/substance abuse, sexual assertiveness), and Feelings about HIV/AIDS. The study was based on four research questions: 1). What is the relationship between African-American women's knowledge of factual information about HIV/AIDS and their willingness to care for a loved one with HIV/AIDS? The Pearson correlation technique was utilized to assess the relationship between knowledge about HIV/AIDS and willingness to care. Analysis of the data revealed no significant relationships between willingness to care and AIDS knowledge. 2). What is the relationship between African-American women's personal beliefs or opinions about HIV/AIDS and their willingness to care for a loved one with HIV/AIDS? The Pearson correlation technique was utilized to assess the relationship between social beliefs about HIV/AIDS and willingness to care. Analysis of the data revealed no significant relationships between willingness to care and AIDS beliefs. 3). What is the relationship between African-American women's own HIV/AIDS risk behaviors and their willingness to care for a loved one with HIV/AIDS? The Pearson correlation technique was utilized to assess the relationship between HIV/AIDS risk behaviors and willingness to care. Analysis of the data revealed no significant relationships between willingness to care and AIDS risk behavior. 4). To what extent are selected demographic variables (age; geographic location; religiosity; knowing someone with HIV/AIDS; knowing someone with a chronic illness; and caregiving history) associated with African-American women's willingness to care for a family member with HIV/AIDS? The Pearson correlation technique was utilized to assess the relationship between age, religiosity (i.e., church role significance and frequency of church attendance) and willingness to care. A significant relationship was found between willingness to care and the caregivers' age. No significant relationship was found between willingness to care and religiosity. The relationship between knowing someone with HIV/AIDS; knowing someone with a chronic illness; caregiving history; and willingness to care was assessed by using an independent samples T-test. The analysis revealed no significant relationships between willingness to care and having a friend with AIDS, having a friend with a chronic illness other than AIDS, or caregiving history. An analysis of variance was used to measure the relationship between geographic location and willingness to care. The analysis revealed no significant relationships between willingness to care and geographic location. Overall, African-American women were found to be very willing to care for a loved one with AIDS. Their desire to care was unconditional, regardless of their lack of knowledge about the disease, their beliefs about AIDS and people living with AIDS, or their own engagement in risky behavior. The findings from this study have five practice implications for rehabilitation counselors and other human service/counseling professionals. First, more efforts should made to provide culturally-specific HIV/AIDS education to persons in the African-American community. Second, African-American churches should be used as primary resources for promoting AIDS education and awareness. Third, a best practice for rehabilitation counselors and other human services professionals would be to consult with the client living with HIV/AIDS about their specific caregiving situation. Fourth, another best practice would be for counselors to provide interventions for caregivers that are focused on the identified problem areas. Fifth, integration of knowledge from this dissertation is called for in rehabilitation services education, especially in courses emphasizing cultural diversity and lifespan development, and medical or psychosocial aspects of disability. There are four suggestions for future research. First, the present study should be replicated in a different geographic location but with random selection of participants. Second, further study could examine the significance of religiosity and having a friend with HIV/AIDS on willingness to care with a more diverse population. Third, future research could also study the difference in willingness to care between African-American women who are caregivers of adult children with AIDS and African-American women who are the caregivers of spouses or partners with HIV/AIDS. One final suggestion for future research should address the AIDS risk behavior of African-American women. === A Dissertation Submitted to the Department Childhood Education, Reading, & Disability Services in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Summer Semester, 2005. === March 17, 2005. === HIV/AIDS, Women, African-American, Caregiving === Includes bibliographical references. === R. William English, Professor Directing Dissertation; Diana Scott-Simmons, Outside Committee Member; Barbara J. Edwards, Committee Member.