title: Attitudes, concerns, and fear of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome among registered nurses in the United States.
abstract: The article reports a study describing nurses' attitudes, concerns, and fear of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). A convenience sample consisting of 376 nurses in a mid-Atlantic state was drawn. An 84-item questionnaire was used to collect the data. Seven factors were derived from the subjects' responses using the Fear of AIDS Scale II: opinion and AIDS policy, blood and physical closeness to patients with AIDS, punishing the homosexual, ethics of care. "Who would care for me?" financial burden, and self-worth. Fear of AIDS Scale II scores ranked the highest whenever "self" was involved with AIDS issues or blood and physical closeness to a person with AIDS. There was a parallel increasing relationship between concern about contracting AIDS from patients and the fear of AIDS. A number of other significant correlations emerged from the study.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005181:Faculty, Nursing; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000451:nursing* / Q000635:transmission; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States