Heterosexual HIV transmission in twentieth century nursing literature: a qualitative approach

Abstract

This work was motivated by the progressive increase of HIV transmission in women. The objectives are to identify the thematic areas addressed in nursing publications on HIV heterosexual transmission, published from 1980 to 2000. It is a qualitative bibliographical study based on data collected from 133 national and international abstracts by nurses. Five thematic areas were found: epidemiological aspects, knowledge, risk perception, behavior and prevention. It was concluded that, over 20 years, the nurses were interested in understanding the specific characteristics of HIV transmission, highlighting the importance of the diversity of clients in order to achieve effectiveness in the actions.