AIDS and HIV: A Comparative Study of Therapy Students' Knowledge and Attitudes

Abstract

Summary This paper describes a comparative study of knowledge and attitudes related to HIV and AIDS, in occupational therapy and physiotherapy students. A questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample (n = 246) of first-and third-year students at a UK university, to determine their levels of knowledge on this topic and their attitudes towards various aspects of HIV infection and AIDS. A total of 170 (69%) questionnaires were returned. The occupational therapy students reported less receipt of detailed knowledge than the physiotherapy students (p = 0.0006), and were less likely to identify the university as a source of information (p = 0.0004). Third-year occupational therapy students demonstrated slightly lower knowledge scores than third-year physiotherapy students (p = 0.0007), but no other between-cohort differences were found. The median scores on attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS fell in the moderately positive category for each cohort, and no respondents appeared in the‘very negative’ category. No between-cohort differences were found (p = 0.1757). The results of this study are generally encouraging in terms of professional education and practice, though some issues of concern are apparent; eg there was considerable ignorance of some knowledge items, and 14% of the sample had moderately negative attitudes towards people with HIV/AIDS. Limitations of the study and proposals for further investigation are identified.