Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 89, Issue 1 , Pages 105-113, January 2008

Rehabilitation Professionals and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Care: Results of a National Canadian Survey

Presented in part to AIDS Impact 2005, April 4−7, 2005, Cape Town, South Africa; the Canadian Association of HIV Research, May 12−15, 2005, Vancouver, BC, Canada; and the Council on Social Work Education, February 16−19, 2006, Chicago, IL.

  • Catherine Worthington, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
    • HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests to Catherine Worthington, PhD, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
    • ,
  • Ted Myers, PhD

      Affiliations

    • HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • ,
  • Kelly O’Brien, BScPT

      Affiliations

    • HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • ,
  • Stephanie Nixon, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
    • ,
  • Rhonda Cockerill, PhD

      Affiliations

    • HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
    • ,
  • Tarik Bereket, MA

      Affiliations

    • HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract 

Worthington C, Myers T, O’Brien K, Nixon S, Cockerill R, Bereket T. Rehabilitation professionals and human immunodeficiency virus care: results of a national Canadian survey.

Objective

To describe rehabilitation professionals’ practices, knowledge and training, professional views, and service delivery issues for people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (PHAs) in Canada.

Design

Nationwide cross-sectional postal survey.

Setting

Canada.

Participants

Random sample (N=2105) of occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and physiatrists who had practiced in the past year.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Survey items on current practices, HIV knowledge and training, professional views on rehabilitation and HIV, and HIV rehabilitation service delivery issues.

Results

Seventy-four percent (1492/2006) of the traceable sample responded, 53% (n=1058) of whom yielded completed surveys. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents never knowingly had served an HIV-positive patient. Of this group, 27% indicated these were patients they would like to work with, 27% indicated they were unwilling, and 46% were unsure. The 39% who knowingly had served PHAs had served an average of 4 PHAs in the last year, and less than 25% of their HIV patients’ rehabilitation issues were HIV-related.

Conclusions

Despite the role rehabilitation professionals have to play in the care of PHAs, only a minority serves PHAs. Results of this survey show a potential gap between the documented rehabilitative needs of PHAs and services provided by the rehabilitation professional community.

Key Words: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Health care surveys, HIV, Rehabilitation

 

 Supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (grant no. HHP-64513); research fellowships provided by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. The HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit is funded by the AIDS Bureau, Ontario Ministry of Health, and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

 No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.

PII: S0003-9993(07)01661-9

doi:10.1016/j.apmr.2007.10.009

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Volume 89, Issue 1 , Pages 105-113, January 2008

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