title: Attitudes of nursing and auxiliary hospital staff toward HIV infection and AIDS in Spain.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of health personnel staff concerning HIV and AIDS. Participants included nurses (n = 315) and nurses' aides (auxiliary staff) (n = 115) working from May to June 2002 in a Spanish hospital. A self-administered validated questionnaire about attitudes towards HIV and AIDS was used. The response was 74.9% (N = 430). The mean for the attitudes questionnaire was 79.7 (SD = 10.9), with a median of 80. The nurses had more positive attitudes than the auxiliary workers (80.9 vs. 76.5; t = 3.712; p<.001). Twenty percent (n = 63) of the nurses and 37.4% (n = 43) of the auxiliary workers (p<.001) reported a negative attitude. After a logistic regression analysis adjusting for age, sex, and occupations, the authors found that age and occupation were the variables with an independent effect on attitudes toward HIV.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Juan Canalejo Hospital, A Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pita-Fernández
authors.forename: Bélgica
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Vazquez
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pertega-Diaz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing* / Q000635:transmission; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009341:Negativism; D009728:Nursing Assistants / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D009790:Occupations; D011287:Prejudice; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires