Development of the HIV/AIDS Q-sort instrument to measure physician attitudes.
BACKGROUND
Providers'attitudes about HIV/AIDS are an important dimension in the delivery of quality care to persons with HIV/AIDS. It is believed that education can alter attitudes, but there is a needfor a user-friendly instrument to measure the effect that HIV/AIDS educational programs have on attitudes.


METHODS
A pool of HIV/AIDS attitude descriptors was collected through literature review and from individuals working in the HIV/AIDS field. Out of this pool of 90 descriptors, 48 descriptors with the highest face validity were selected through expert consensus ranking to create a preliminary survey instrument. Twenty-six physicians completed a pilot Q-Sort instrument with 48 descriptors. A variance analysis was conducted, and the top 28 descriptors with the most variability were selected for the final Q-Sort instrument, which was then completed by 191 physicians. A factor analysis was conducted to identify a small number of factors that explained the 28 descriptors. A subsample of 22 physicians repeated the test to establish test-retest reliability.


RESULTS
Factor analysis revealed three factors: (1) emotionality, (2) ability, and (3) reluctance. The Q-Sort instrument demonstrated good test-retest reliability, with reliability for the three factors of .82, .80, and .88, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
This Q-sort instrument is a reliable method for measuring physician attitudes toward HIV/AIDS patients. Further studies can test its use for evaluating the effect of educational programs on changing provider attitudes.
Prasad
R S
RS
Department of Family Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 90033, USA. prasadrs27@hotmail.com
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002140:California; D003625:Data Collection; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*