AEGiS-06IAC: Assessment of HIV/AIDS knowledge among prison officers in Scottish prisons.

6th International AIDS Conference


San Francisco, California, USA — June 20-23, 1990

Print this Article


Assessment of HIV/AIDS knowledge among prison officers in Scottish prisons.

Int Conf AIDS 1990 Jun 20-23; 6:347 (abstract no. Th.D.884)
Rowlands A, Power KG, Beveridge L; HM Prison, Perth, Scotland

OBJECTIVES: To assess Prison Officers' knowledge about different aspects of HIV/AIDS.

METHOD: Study of 128 male and 88 female Prison Officers, 108 newly recruited Prison Officers and a control group of 51 male and 77 female university students. Subjects were randomly selected and completed a questionnaire. Questions were divided into 5 sub scales covering different aspects of HIV/AIDS. Comparisons were made between the total and sub scale scores for males and females, officers and students, experienced and inexperienced officers. One way analysis of variance and post hoc scheffes were used for analysis.

RESULTS: Preliminary results show no significant difference between the groups in terms of total scores. There were differences on levels of knowledge for all groups between the sub scales. All groups had less knowledge about prevalence of HIV/AIDS and relative risk of HIV infection compared with other health problems, and also less knowledge about lack of risk associated with casual contact. There were also differences between groups for scores on some of the sub scales.

CONCLUSIONS: Deficits were found in knowledge of lack of risk associated with casual contact, nature and prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and relative risk of HIV infection compared with other health problems. This may have implications for management of inmates with HIV/AIDS. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between knowledge, attitudes and perceived relative risk of HIV infection.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Prisons, HIV Infections, Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Risk-Taking, Questionnaires, Risk, Educational Status, Scotland, Human, Female, Male, ICA6KWDaegis,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,prisons,hivinfections,knowledge,attitudes,practice,risk-taking,questionnaires,risk,educationalstatus,scotland,human,female,male,ica6

900620
ThD884

Copyright © 1990 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.