Measuring medical and nursing students' attitudes toward AIDS.
Investigated attitudes toward AIDS patients among medical and nursing students. Two separate cohorts of students (total N = 550) were surveyed to examine and then validate with confirmatory factor analysis the latent factor structure of such attitudes. Results indicate that a three-factor structure representing fear of contagion, negative emotions, and professional resistance provides a good fit to the data (goodness-of-fit index [GFI] = .92, parsimonious GFI = .67). We offer the resulting 15-item AIDS Attitudes Scale (AAS) as a reliable and valid measure for assessing health care students' attitudes toward working with AIDS patients. Our results suggest the presence of multiple predictors of such attitudes.
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
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Bliwise
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Irish
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Ficarrotto
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016079:Refusal to Treat; D012307:Risk Factors; D012928:Social Desirability; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*