title: Attitudes toward health-care, HIV infection, and perinatal transmission interventions in a cohort of inner-city, pregnant women.
abstract: The objective of this article is to explore attitudes of an inner-city, pregnant cohort about general and HIV-related prenatal care. Responses to an interview at initial prenatal care enrollment were compared using Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Of 75 women, drug users (51%) were more likely to say that they would defer initiating prenatal care (P = 0.03) and to minimize the risk of drug or alcohol use to the fetus (P = 0.04). Most (85%) viewed pregnancy as inappropriate for HIV infected women and primarily drug users (P = 0.06) would abort if HIV infected. Over half thought HIV transmission occurred most times or always. Only 20% had heard of a drug to reduce this risk, but 95% would take such a therapy. These inner-city, pregnant women disapproved of pregnancy if HIV infected and thought the risk of transmission was high. They knew little of how to reduce this risk but nearly all would accept a drug to prevent transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA.
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Rohner
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Turner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015143:Philadelphia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population