Tam Truong Donnelly, R.N., BscN., MscN. Ph.D.

Major research areas
Fostering active living -- Depression in CV patients -- Breast cancer screening - Qatar -- Breastfeeding practices -- Life style behaviours -- Breastfeeding decisions -- HIV/AIDS and immigrants -- Immigrants' mental health -- Vietnamese breast/cervical cancer screening

HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention amongst recent immigrants living in rural centres in Alberta. 2009. (completed)

Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). $97,000 CAD

Project Summary

The HIV/AIDS problem is increasing world wide, and Canada and Alberta are no exception. Over the past few years, Alberta has had an increase in the number of immigrants who came from countries with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS. In 2004, one of the health regions of Alberta experienced an increase in newly-detected HIV positive persons from HIV/AIDS endemic countries. This was followed by a sharp, unexplainable decrease in 2005 and 2006. An emerging health concern is how to assist persons with HIV/AIDS and to prevent further increases in the incidence of this disease among new immigrants. The region’s health care and service providers, as well as the Medical Officer of Health recognized that immigrants may experience barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention, early detection, and treatment, posing the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission within the population. We proposed to undertake a multi-phase research study for which the goals were to:

1. understand the health care milieu as experienced by recent immigrants;
2. identify and implement strategies which would assist recent immigrants to manage HIV/AIDS and its related problems, and limit the spread of this disease; and
3. evaluate and facilitate recent immigrants’ success in seeking help for and preventing HIV/AIDS.

The project consists of three phases of which the first one has been completed:

Phase 1: Acquire information from the perspective of both recent immigrants and their health care providers regarding factors support health care and those that inhibit it.
Phase 2: Based on the information gathered in phase 1, generate and implement strategies that are expected to support recent immigrants’ health care.
Phase 3: Evaluate and facilitate the outcomes of the health care strategies implemented.

Publication:

Donnelly, T. T., Schnee, P., Worthington, C., Kovacs Burns, K., & Lai, D. (2009). Factors Effecting HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention amongst Recent Immigrants Living in Rural Centers. Technical Report. Calgary: University of Calgary (107p.). Submitted to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Alberta Health Services.