AEGiS-14IAC: Attitudes of medical faculty's students to patients living with HIV/AIDS in Western Pomerania, Poland.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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Attitudes of medical faculty's students to patients living with HIV/AIDS in Western Pomerania, Poland.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. E11456)

Holowinski K, Pynka M
Medical Faculty, Pomeranian Academy of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland

BACKGROUND: It is little known concerning the influence of training on attitudes of health care workers (HCWs) to persons living with HIV/AIDS (PWHA) in Poland.

OBJECTIVE: to determinate the impact of training in infectious diseases on attitudes and behavior of medical faculty's students with regard to working with PWHA.

METHODS: A 14-item questionnaire (about professional misgivings regarding HIV, personal fear of contracting HIV, comfort with PWHA and support for routine HIV testing) was addressed to 237 students (142 women, 94 men), 23-24 years of age before and after completing their 3 weeks clinical education in Department of Infectious Diseases. Statistical analysis: chi-square test.

RESULTS: The response rate was 82%. Before training 78.3% students stated that they had obligation to treat PWHA; 21.7% would rather not take care for HIV+ patients (after training - 80.9% and 19.1%, respectively; not statistically significant=NS). The training changed misgivings regarding fear of contracting HIV when attending patients (25.7% responders versus 15.4%; p=0.0086). After training 52.8% students felt quite comfortable or somewhat comfortable with AIDS patients (before - 23.2%, p<0.001). We did not find significant changes in support for routine HIV testing in different groups of people (e.g., 43.5% students supported testing of HCWs before training; after - 42%; NS).

CONCLUSIONS: 1.Three weeks of training improved comfort in professional contact with PWHA as well as reduced fear of contracting HIV when working with patients. 2. Further strong efforts have to be done to improve the willingness to take care to PWHA and to change the attitude to routine HIV testing in students during their university education.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Students, Medical, HIV Infections, Students, Attitude, HIV Seropositivity, Faculty, Medical, Faculty, Education, Medical, Undergraduate, Questionnaires, Fear, Poland, Human, Female, Male, EducationKWDaegis,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,students,medical,hivinfections,students,attitude,hivseropositivity,faculty,medical,faculty,education,medical,undergraduate,questionnaires,fear,poland,human,female,male,education

020707
E11456

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.