Be. Mcdermott et al., DIAGNOSIS, HEALTH BELIEFS, AND RISK OF HIV-INFECTION IN PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS, Hospital & community psychiatry, 45(6), 1994, pp. 580-585
Objective, The study examined behavioral and cognitive factors that ma
y place mentally ill persons at increased risk of infection by the hum
an immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Methods: Sixty-one patients consecuti
vely admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit of a public general hosp
ital completed questionnaires focused on their knowledge about AIDS an
d their sexual practices. They also participated in a structured inter
view to assess how their beliefs about health related to changes in he
alth behaviors. Responses of the psychiatric Patients, of whom 54.5 pe
rcent were men and 61.5 percent were black, were categorized by diagno
sis (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and depression) and we
re compared with responses Of a control group of 32 patients with no i
dentified psychiatric disorder who had been treated in the hospital's
medical emergency room. Results: Trends in the data suggested that the
psychiatric patients were more likely than the control subjects to en
gage in high-risk sexual behaviors. Psychiatric patients with differen
t diagnoses appeared to engage in different kinds of high-risk behavio
rs. Whereas control subjects seemed inclined to change their behaviors
as their knowledge about HIV increased, schizophrenic patients appear
ed willing to change their behavior only if they believed their behavi
or could really make a difference in whether they would become infecte
d. Conclusions: The relationship between specific psychiatric symptoms
, knowledge about HIV, and factors influencing behavior need to be mor
e thoroughly examined so that clinicians can develop interventions to
reduce the risk of HIV infection in mentally ill persons.