Impact of a bilingual/bicultural care team on HIV-related health outcomes.
The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine the impact of a bilingual/bicultural care team on HIV-related health outcomes among Hispanic/Latino adults (N = 43) who received care in an academic HIV specialty clinic. Demographic and health data extracted from medical records from March 2005 to March 2007 were compared over two time periods: 1 year before and 1 year after implementation of the care team. Results indicated that there were more clinic visits per patient and that a higher percentage of individuals had suppressed HIV viral loads to < 50 copies/ml during the year after the team was implemented compared with the previous year. Results from this study suggest that provision of care by health care workers who are bilingual/bicultural, together with the use of culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education materials, may enhance health outcomes among Hispanic adults living with HIV infection.
Enriquez
Maithe
M
University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Truman Medical Centers, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Farnan
Rose
R
Cheng
An-Lin
AL
Almeida
Amalia
A
Del Valle
Daniel
D
Pulido-Parra
Maria
M
Flores
Gabriela
G
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D054521:Cultural Competency; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019562:Viral Load