Patient Health Literacy and Communication with Providers Among Women Living with HIV: A Mixed Methods Study
Henna Budhwani, C. Ann Gakumo, Ibrahim Yigit, Whitney S. Rice, Faith E. Fletcher, Samantha Whitfield, Shericia Ross, Deborah J. Konkle-Parker, Mardge H. Cohen, Gina M. Wingood, Lisa R. Metsch, Adaora A. Adimora, Tonya N. Taylor, Tracey E. Wilson, Sheri D. Weiser, Oluwakemi Sosanya, Lakshmi Goparaju, Stephen Gange, Mirjam-Colette Kempf, Bulent Turan & Janet M. Turan
AIDS and Behavior (2021)
Congratulations to a number of our UAB-UMMC MWCCS Investigators who recently published a paper in the journal of AIDS and Behavior entitled “Patient Health Literacy and Communication with Providers among Women living with HIV: A Mixed Methods Study. This groundbreaking research headed by Dr. Henna Budhwani explores the relationship between healthcare provider’s communication and patient health literacy on the HIV spectrum of care outcomes among women living with HIV within the United States. Researchers evaluated nearly 100 qualitative interviews with Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) study participants and over 1,400 quantitative survey data entries. The data suggested that a high level of health literacy is directly associated with higher perceived patient-provider interaction quality, which is strongly associated with higher levels of trust in ones HIV provider, better HIV medication adherence, and a reduction in missed clinical visits. Thus increasing provider’s communication and patient’s health literacy levels could have a positive impact on the HIV continuum of care for a women living with HIV in the United States.