Quality of life, optimism/pessimism, and knowledge and attitudes toward HIV Screening among pregnant women in Ghana.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to explore optimism/pessimism, knowledge of HIV, and attitudes toward HIV screening and treatment among Ghanaian pregnant women.


METHODS
Pregnant women in Accra, Ghana, completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R, an optimism/pessimism measure), an HIV knowledge and screening attitudes questionnaire, the Short Form 12 (SF-12, a measure of health-related quality of life [HRQOL]), and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, correlations, and the chi2 test.


RESULTS
There were 101 participants; 28% were nulliparous. Mean age was 29.7 years, and mean week of gestation was 31.8. All women had heard of AIDS, 27.7% had been tested for HIV before this pregnancy, 46.5% had been tested during this pregnancy, and 59.4% of the sample had ever been tested for HIV. Of those not tested during this pregnancy, 64.2% were willing to be tested. Of all respondents, 89% said they would get tested if antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) were readily available and might prevent maternal-to-child transmission. Neither optimism/pessimism nor HRQOL was associated with attitudes toward HIV screening. Optimism was negatively correlated with HIV knowledge (p = .001) and was positively correlated with having never been tested before this pregnancy (p = .007).


CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between optimism/pessimism and HIV knowledge and screening behavior is worthy of further study using larger samples and objective measures of testing beyond self-report.
Moyer
Cheryl A
CA
Global REACH, Department of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104, USA. camoyer@umich.edu
Ekpo
Geraldine
G
Calhoun
Cecilia L
CL
Greene
Jonathan
J
Naik
Sujata
S
Sippola
Emily
E
Stern
David T
DT
Adanu
Richard M
RM
Koranteng
Isaac O
IO
Kwawukume
Enyonam Yao
EY
Anderson
Frank J
FJ
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires