Funding from an HSC R&D Division Knowledge Transfer Award (£90,000) has been used to prepare health care professionals to better understand the care needs of HIV affected women, and their partners from reproductive decision-making to post natal care.
A knowledge exchange team lead by Dr Carmel Kelly (Queen’s University Belfast & South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust) worked with HIV positive women, healthcare professionals and a professional production team, to produce an innovative eLearning resource aimed at staff and managers from midwifery, sexual health and education. The resource, called “HIV and Pregnancy - Prepared To Care” incorporates key medical information, with findings from research and brings to life patient and partner experiences and what it means for nurses, midwives and doctors to be prepared to care for couples affected by HIV.
Throughout the resource evidence based information and guidance on HIV management is presented alongside interviews with key healthcare professionals and the vignettes presented by actors. There are in total 26 video clips of 8 actors and 4 healthcare professionals. In addition, one of the HIV positive women, who was part of the consultation group, chose to tell her own story.
The resource, launched on 29 November 2013 to mark World AIDS Day, has now been accessed in over 50 countries around the world and is being promoted by the Royal College of Midwives and the National HIV Nurses Association.
One user commented “…excellent resource, straightforward and not too complicated, easy to understand, extremely informative and personal stories help to combat stigma that professionals may not always be aware of. This is one of the best e-learning courses I have done. Well done and thanks a million”
The resource is available at http://www.qub.ac.uk/hivandpregnancy
For further information also see
Kelly C., Reid E., Lohan, M., Alderdice F., and Spence D. (2014) Creating an eLearning resource to improve knowledge and understanding of pregnancy in the context of HIV infection. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 11 (10) 10504-10517