title: Knowledge levels and attitudes of health care professionals toward patients with hepatitis C infection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study knowledge levels and attitudes of health care providers toward patients with hepatitis C virus infection in Guilan, a northern province of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was performed on 239 health care professionals from the Razi Hospital, including doctors, nurses, and operating room technicians. The questionnaires consisted of questions on demographic characteristics, knowledge levels, and attitudes toward hepatitis C patients. The questionnaire was tested in a pilot study and validated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data were analyzed using SPSS16 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean ± SD knowledge score was 17.43 ± 2.65 (from a total of 22). 51.9% of the participants achieved scores higher than the mean. There was a significant relationship between knowledge score and age (P = 0.001), gender (P = 0.0001), occupational history (P = 0.0001), and educational history (P = 0.027). There was also a significant relationship between attitude level and age (P = 0.002), gender (P = 0.0001), occupational history (P = 0.0001), and educational history (P = 0.035). Physicians were significantly more knowledgeable and showed more positive attitudes. There was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude scores (P = 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Discriminatory attitudes are common among health care providers toward hepatitis C patients. It is therefore necessary to improve their knowledge level and attitude toward this disease.
authors.affiliation: Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht 41448-95655, Iran.
authors.forename: Farahnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Joukar
authors.forename: Fariborz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mansour-Ghanaei
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soati
authors.forename: Panah
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meskinkhoda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011287:Prejudice; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires