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Psychiatric hospital staff knowledge and attitudes towards AIDS, and the impact of an in-house education seminar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Ronan J McIvor  and
Rory K Shelley
Ronan J McIvor
Affiliation:
St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
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Abstract

A self-administered questionnaire assessing general knowledge about AIDS, including modes of transmission, methods of prevention and attitudes to the disease, was completed by staff in a psychiatric hospital after an AIDS education seminar. The data were used to assess staff knowledge of and attitudes to AIDS, and to assess the usefulness of the seminar in changing these. Responses to individual questionnaire items were examined for associations with age, sex, job description and attendance at the seminar.

Eighty-six staff members returned questionnaires, a response rate of 39%. The results showed that levels of knowledge concerning AIDS transmission and prevention were high. A significantly greater proportion of seminar attenders were aware that needles should not be recapped after taking blood samples, but when this and other knowledge and attitude responses were corrected to allow for the higher proportion of non-medical staff among the non-attenders, there were no significant differences between attenders and non-attenders.

These results suggest that an omnibus AIDS education seminar may not produce a worthwhile improvement in staff knowledge of or attitudes to AIDS.

Keywords

Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeEducationKnowledgeAttitudes
Type
Practice Reviews
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 1992 , pp. 67 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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