title: Health care students' reactions towards HIV patients: examining prejudice, emotions, attribution of blame and willingness to interact with HIV/AIDS patients.
abstract: One of the most pervasive stigmatising conditions in society today is HIV/AIDS. In Trinidad and Tobago, stigma and discrimination are still pervasive especially against persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and at-risk groups. HIV stigmatisation takes place at all levels including health care institutions, and is a major obstacle to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care. This study examined health care students' reactions towards HIV patients. A stratified random sample of 339 health care students from Trinidad was used. A 2 × 2 factorial design using vignettes manipulated a male patient's sexual orientation (heterosexual/homosexual) and HIV onset controllability (high/low). Multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis were used to analyse the data. There was a significant main effect of HIV onset controllability on participants' attribution of blame, emotions, prejudicial evaluation and willingness to interact with PLHIV, Λ (.64) F(6, 330) = 31.44, p <.001, [Formula: see text] = .37. Attribution of blame and prejudicial evaluation discriminated between reactions to patients in low onset control and high onset control vignettes. Cognitive-affective appraisal processes are instrumental in determining health care providers' reaction towards PLHIV.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Behavioural Sciences , The University of the West Indies , St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
authors.forename: Jannel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philip
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chadee
authors.forename: Rosana Patricia
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Yearwood
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057545:Social Stigma; D013240:Stereotyping; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology; D014300:Trinidad and Tobago; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HIV/AIDS stigmatisation; attitudes; attributions; emotions; prejudice