title: Knowledge and attitudes of physicians in private practice towards HIV/AIDS in Mashhad, Iran.
abstract: Being responsible for providing care for HIV/AIDS in a society, physicians should be knowledgeable and have favourable attitudes. We designed a cross-sectional study to assess knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS of private practicing physicians in Mashhad, Iran. A total of 346 general practitioners and specialists completed anonymous self-administered questionnaires with response rate of 91.1%. For knowledge questions, the mean proportion of correct responses was 53.5% (±13.2). Misconceptions about HIV transmission were the main areas of insufficient knowledge. Surprisingly only 20% knew how to manage a patient who had experienced sexual contact with an HIV-positive partner. While 84% disagreed that 'HIV-infected individuals deserved to catch infection' owing to high-risk behaviours, 38% sympathized less with people who were infected via extramarital sex. It seems that knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among the studied physicians is not favourable and is an area that requires attention to enable effective management of the disease in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for HIV/AIDS, HTLV and Viral Hepatitis, Iranian Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research (ACECR), Mashhad Branch, Mashhad, Iran. drhedayati@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hedayati-Moghaddam
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moradi Marjaneh
authors.forename: I Eftekharzadeh
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Mashhadi
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011331:Private Practice; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires