title: Nurses' health education program in India increases HIV knowledge and reduces fear.
abstract: Few health care facilities are adequately prepared to manage and care for HIV/AIDS patients in India. Nurses play a critical role in patient care but are often ill-equipped to deal with their own fears of occupational risk and handle the clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS care, leading to stigma and discrimination toward HIV-positive patients. The authors examine the impact of a 4-day HIV/AIDS health education program on knowledge and attitudes of nurses in a government hospital. This education program was developed using a training of trainers model and qualitative research. A total of 21 master trainers underwent 6 days of training and began training of 552 hospital nurses (in 2004-2005). Using a pretest-posttest design, the authors assessed changes in knowledge and attitudes of 371 trained nurses. Significant improvements were seen in nurses' HIV/AIDS knowledge in all areas including care, treatment, and issues of confidentiality and consent. Fear of interaction with people living with HIV/AIDS was reduced significantly. The short course was successful in increasing nurses' knowledge in all aspects. There is great potential to expand this stigma-reduction intervention to other public and private hospitals.
authors.affiliation: BJ Medical College/Johns Hopins MIT Study Group, Pune, India.
authors.forename: Hemlata
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pisal
authors.forename: Savita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutar
authors.forename: Jayagowri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sastry
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kapadia-Kundu
authors.forename: Aparna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Mangala
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scotti
authors.forename: Kapila
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bharucha
authors.forename: Nishi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Suryavanshi
authors.forename: Mrudula
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Phadke
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bollinger
authors.forename: Anita V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Shankar
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005239:Fear; D017144:Focus Groups; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D009726:Nurses