Ethical Decision-making of Health Professionals Caring for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Hunan, China: A Qualitative Study.

Numerous ethical issues surged the moment acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was discovered. As advocates of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), health professionals encounter many ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. However, it remains unclear how health professionals solve these issues. The descriptive qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 22 health professionals from May to August 2018. Three themes emerged from data analyses of the interviews: (1) real ethical dilemma experienced by health professionals, (2) factors influencing ethical judgment, (3) ethical motivations. About two-thirds of participants failed to recall ethical dilemmas experienced in their clinical practice. Emotions, gender, occupation, and difficulty balancing different roles may influence the ethical judgments of health professionals. In the ethical decision-making (EDM) process, most participants took other people's interests into consideration and conformed to law and professional codes of conduct. However, the fear of medical disputes (conflicts with families and others) was experienced by many participants, influencing their ethical behaviors.

The Ethical Sensitivity of Health Care Professionals Who Care For Patients Living With HIV Infection in Hunan, China: A Qualitative Study.

The level of ethical sensitivity of health care professionals who care for patients with HIV may shed light on ethical behaviors in HIV care. However, little research has determined how such professionals view ethical issues in clinical practice in China. The purpose of our qualitative descriptive study was to explore the ethical sensitivity of health care professionals in Hunan Province, China, and to discuss the existing deficiencies. We used purposive sampling to recruit 17 health care professionals who provided direct care to patients with HIV and conducted interviews with them. Interview transcripts were analyzed by thematic analysis. Informants showed certain sensitivities to ethical issues, but the majority also held stigmatizing attitudes toward patients with HIV, and exhibited ethics driven by HIV-related laws and regulations rather than ethical principles. There is room to improve the ethical sensitivity of health care professionals who care for patients with HIV in China.