AIDS 2010 Abstract - Scientific disclosure to promote health

Scientific disclosure to promote health

V.K. Rosa¹, S.S. Schuh², M. Gomes³, J.C. Del Pino¹

¹Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, Programa de Pós Graduação Química da Vida e Saúde - PPGQVS, Porto Alegre, Brazil, ²iCare - Comunicação e Sistemas de Informação em Saúde, Porto Alegre, Brazil, ³CM de DST/HIV/AIDS Alvorada/RS - Brazil, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Background: Our objective was to check the population on technical terms widely used in the media and printed materials aimed at HIV/AIDS patients.
Methods: To present these results we made use of a cutout from a closed question questionnaire which asked the patients whether they has knowledge of the vocabulary thatis frequently used in the assistance routine for patients undergoing HAART inAlvorada-RS,Brazil.The patients had to answer yes-I have heard of this word-or no.
Methods: The participants comprised 36 patients-21 male15 female-with few years of education and workers from the informal economy.Of the total number of patients, 52.3%answered that they knew the technical terms presented against 47.7% who did not know the words.From the terms presented, 80.55%of patients answered that they did not know the word lymphocytes.For 86.12% of patients, both CD4 and Viral Load were the terms most widely known by the public.Words such as reinfection-77.77%-and Immunological Window-61.11%-produced high levels of lack of knowledge.The term Antiretroviral is not known by 38.88%of patients in this study.
Conclusions: The study revealed that there is a worrying mismatch regarding the vocabulary used by the media and the understanding of the population.We point out the fact that those patients who had heard the term did not necessarily know its meaning. The striking issue that deserved attention was the large number of patients who admit to not knowing the terms. This implies that a large portion of the population that the materials are aimed at is ignorant of their contents. The routine of specific periodic exams to which the patients are submitted made terms such as CD4 and Viral Load popular, although it does not mean they are capable of being correctly interpreted. Despite the results from this study being preliminary, they allow to reflect that only legitimate understanding can be useful to promote health,and the challenge lies in strengthening scientific disclosure without losing rigor and precision.