Faculty Collaboration Database

Barriers to care among persons living with HIV/AIDS in urban and rural areas. AIDS Care 1998 Jun;10(3):365-75

Date

11/26/1998

Pubmed ID

9828979

DOI

10.1080/713612410

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0031835292 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   245 Citations

Abstract

People living with HIV disease, particularly those in small towns and rural areas, face many barriers that prevent them from receiving important life-care services. We developed the Barriers to Care Scale (BACS) to delineate the problem severity of factors that impede care and service provision among a sample of 226 men and women living with HIV disease in a single midwestern state. Both urban and rural respondents indicated that major barriers to life-care services included the lack of knowledge about HIV among citizens in the community, insufficient personal financial resources, the lack of employment opportunities for people living with HIV, and the lack of supportive and understanding work environments. Rural persons living with HIV disease, compared to their urban counterparts, assigned significantly higher problem severity ratings to the following barriers: the need to travel long distances to medical facilities and personnel; a shortage of adequately trained medical and mental health professionals; a lack of personal or public transportation; and community residents' stigma toward people living with HIV. The large number of barriers to care identified in the present study indicates that innovative programmes designed to remove these barriers and improve the life quality of rural persons living with HIV are urgently needed.

Author List

Heckman TG, Somlai AM, Peters J, Walker J, Otto-Salaj L, Galdabini CA, Kelly JA

Author

Jeffrey A. Kelly PhD Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Adult
Female
HIV Infections
Health Services Accessibility
Health Services Needs and Demand
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Quality of Life
Rural Health Services
Urban Health Services
Wisconsin