Attitudes of Saudi Nursing Students on AIDS and Predictors of Willingness to Provide Care for Patients in Central Saudi Arabia

• Published in: SAGE open Vol. 3; no. 3
• Main Authors: Abolfotouh, Mostafa A., Al Saleh, Samar A., Mahfouz, Aisha A., Abolfotouh, Sherif M., Al Fozan, Haya M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 05.08.2013
• Subjects: AIDs; Saudi; nursing students; knowledge; attitude
• ISSN: 2158-2440
• DOI: 10.1177/2158244013499163

This study aimed to assess acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related knowledge, attitudes, and risk perception among Saudi nursing students, and to identify predictors of their willingness to provide care for patients with AIDS. A cross-sectional study of 260 baccalaureate nursing students at King Saud bin-Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was done using a previously validated instrument. Students’ knowledge percentage mean score (PMS) on AIDS was 72.93 ± 10.67 reflecting an average level of knowledge. There were many misconceptions about how AIDS is transmitted, for example, use of same toilets and bathrooms and washing clothes together (24.9%), swimming (53.7%), and coughing and sneezing (49.6%). Nursing students reported an overall negative attitude toward AIDS, with a PMS of 43.48 ± 9.21. The majority of students agreed that AIDS patients should be isolated from other patients (83%), and should not share the room with other noninfected patients (81.8%), and some reported that people living with AIDS deserve what has happened to them (24.7%). After controlling for confounders, students’ poor knowledge and negative attitude were associated only with having never been given nursing education as their primary university education “Stream 2 students” (p = .012 and p = .01, respectively). These findings have implications for development of teaching strategies and curricular approaches for nursing to address this health care issue.