Md. Carretero et al., WHOSE HEALTH IS IT - THE VIEWS OF INJECTING DRUG-USERS WITH HIV-INFECTION AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL CARERS, AIDS care, 10(3), 1998, pp. 323-328
The views about autonomy in medical treatment of people with HIV infec
tion (who had acquired it via the injection of drugs) and their profes
sional carers were investigated using a standardized self-report instr
ument. Forty-two patients and 61 staff were entered in the study. Pati
ents and staff reported strong endorsement of patient autonomy, but th
ere were important differences between groups. Staff as a group report
ed higher preference for patients' involvement in decision-making than
the patients themselves, while the opposite was true for information-
seeking, where patients wanted more information than staff had anticip
ated. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.