Archive for the ‘Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’ tag
54% of people living with HIV avoid healthcare due to stigma: launch of HIV-related Stigma in Healthcare Settings report
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission‘s offices wer the venue for the launch of HIV Ireland‘s latest report: HIV-related Stigma in Healthcare Settings in Ireland: Findings from a Collaborative Joint Stakeholder Study by Dr Elena Vaughan of the University of Galway’s Health Promotion Research Centre.
There were two sets of surveys: one for healthcare workers; the other for people living with HIV (PLHIV). There were logistical difficulties in getting the surveys out to the relevant audiences to be completed. However, Elena did manage to have participation from 298 healthcare workers and 89 PLHIV.
Key findings
Some of the key findings were quite shocking:
People living with HIV
44% of people living with HIV report being asked how they got HIV by a healthcare worker.
54% of people living with HIV report having avoided healthcare for worry about how they will be treated by healthcare workers.
24% of people living with HIV report having been told to come back later, made to wait or put last in a queue.
20% of people living with HIV report having been denied service in the past 12 months.
Vaughan, E. (2023). HIV-related stigma in healthcare settings in Ireland: findings from a collaborative joint stakeholder study. Galway: Health Promotion Research Centre, University of Galway and HIV Ireland. https://doi.org/10.13025/ccsj-8336, p. 7.
Healthcare workers
21% of healthcare workers report using special measures that they would not use with other patients.
80% of healthcare workers have not received training in stigma and discrimination.
40% of healthcare workers say they would worry at least a little about drawing blood from a person with HIV.
25% of healthcare workers say they have observed a colleague talking badly about a person living with HIV at least once in the last 12 months.
loc. cit.
Experiences of stigma in healthcare settings
The report details some experiences of stigma in healthcare settings that were experienced by those interviewed by the research team. I know that I recognised two situations that had happened to me.
The physiotherapist said, `I can’t have you in the gym in the hospital because then it will have to be cleaned… so it would be a whole afternoon of no one else being able to use it because you’ve been in.’
Ibid., p.31
and
speaking of nurses using excessive or unnecessary infection control measures…
They came in in what I keep referring to as full body armour – they were in full gowns and masks and hair-nets and everything. And I said, Why are you dressed like that? `Well, because you know your condition.’ … Oh so because I’m HIV positive, you thinkg you need to be in all of this? `Yes.’
Ibid., p. 32
Both of those situations happened in a hospital in the midlands of Ireland. I have complained about them in the past. As the report says, I was able to self-advocate. Yet, the second situation happened even in the last few weeks when I was again there for treatment.
Recommendations
The report makes several recommendations for the future. They are laid out in four different domains: training and education; policy/practice guideline development; and research. I recommend you read the report online and read the recommendations there.
