title: Francophones living with HIV/AIDS in Ontario: the unknown reality of an invisible cultural minority.
abstract: A strong body of evidence demonstrates that education, prevention and intervention, in the context of HIV/AIDS, should take ethno-racial diversity into account. The current research focuses on the cultural sensitivity manifested by AIDS service organisation ASO professionals towards Francophone minority persons living with HIV/AIDS Francophone PHAs in the two main urban centres of Ontario: Ottawa and Toronto. More specifically, this qualitative research will describe two different points of view: Francophone PHA service users n=17 and ASO professionals n=12. Data were collected from multiple focus groups and analysed using a phenomenological methodology. The analysis revealed that an important difference exists in the perceptions of language as an integral part of ethno-racial diversity. For ASO professionals, language is perceived as a simple tool of communication. For Francophones living with HIV/AIDS, however, language is perceived as a way to convey sensitivity to their cultural reality and a full recognition of their Canadian citizenship. This research showed that cultural sensitivity should include a linguistic aspect when it comes to health-related services, especially in the context of an officially bilingual country.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada. asamson@uottawa.ca
authors.forename: Andre A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Samson
authors.forename: Noah M P
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Spector
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003142:Communication; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014705:Verbal Behavior