Gov't gives $4.3 million to Nursing

Funds used to fight AIDS The Nursing School has received nearly $4.3 million from the government to fight the AIDS virus, according to Nursing School spokesperson Susan Greenbaum. The primary grant, awarded by the National Institute of Mental Health, totals more than $3.9 million and will be used for a "Mother-Son HIV Risk Reduction Intervention Program." The second grant, totaling about $370,000, is being funded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The money will be allocated for the largest-ever single study on hospital AIDS care. The grants come on the heels of another grant the Nursing School received recently -- $3.1 million last month for a study of breast-feeding low birth-weight infants. The intervention program aims to teach African American mothers who live in Philadelphia housing developments how to speak to their sons, ages 11-15, about how to reduce the risk of contracting HIV. Nursing Professor Loretta Jemmott will serve as the primary investigator for the program. "AIDS is a devastating disease that has no cure, but HIV can be prevented," Jemmott said. "People just need to know how. This study will allow the opportunity for mothers to talk to their sons about how to prevent HIV." The study will explore why pre-teenagers and teenagers engage in high-risk sexual behavior, and how to train them to adopt healthier lifestyles. The program will include 630 African American mothers and their sons who live in 42 low-income housing developments in Philadelphia. One of the unique aspects of the program is the way in which the mothers will be trained to educate their sons, Jemmott added. "This will empower the women of the community to be leaders," she said. "This is positive for the community because it leaves?women [trained] in the community." Jemmott said that according to the goals of the program, the educated mothers will then continue to teach other women how to talk to their sons and further decrease the risk of HIV in the community. "The program is a wonderful way for mothers to talk to their sons about HIV risk reduction," she said. And the program will have meaning to Jemmott on a personal level as well. "I get to come to the city where I grew up and do a study that will save lives, particularly those of African American mothers and their sons," she said. "It's like a homecoming present." The program will have a five-year lifespan. The second study marks the continuation of a project that began in 1990, according to Nursing and Sociology Professor Linda Aiken, who will serve as principle investigator of the project. The program aims to find the most effective way to care for AIDS patients in hospitals. The project will compare one group of patients, who have been scattered in various units throughout a hospital, with another group treated in specialized AIDS units, according to Aiken. The success of each group is measures by factors including patient satisfaction, length of stay and mortality rate. According to early findings, the specialized AIDS units appear to be the more successful group, Aiken added. The study includes 20 hospitals, which are located in 11 major cities. 1,300 patients and 1,000 nurses are involved in the program. "The research has been dramatically successful," she said. "It is complicated because of the amount of people involved in the study, but we have done it well. We have the best data in the country on AIDS care."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.