An in-service education program as a means to improve nurses' knowledge and attitude about AIDS and to increase their willingness to care for AIDS patients.

Abstract

This study evaluates changes in nurses' knowledge and attitudes about AIDS and changes in their willingness to care for AIDS patients following a 2 hour educational program. The nursing staff of Kaohsiung Medical College Hospital was divided into two groups: an experimental group (n = 280) and a control group (n = 119). Scores were obtained from a pre-test and from a post-test. The questionnaire that was given to both groups. The results were analyzed by 2-way ANOVA with repeated measures. The experimental group's overall pre-test score on their knowledge of AIDS was 25.9 +/- 4.5 (66.4% of the maximal score of 39) and the post-test score showed an improvement to 28.7 +/- 4.2 (73.6% of the maximal score). The difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the experimental group was statistically significant (P < 0.01). The difference in the post-test scores between the experimental group and the control group (26.0 +/- 4.0) was also statistically significant (P < 0.01). Pertaining to attitudes towards AIDS, the experimental group had a pre-test score of 47.2 +/- 5.2 and a post-test score of 47.3 +/- 5.5, and there was neither a significant difference between the pre-test score and the post-test score of the experimental group nor in the post-test scores between the experimental group and the control group (47.6 +/- 4.3). The post-test score of willingness to care for AIDS patients was slightly higher than the pre-test score in both groups, but the difference was not significant. Nurses who originally were willing to care for AIDS patients had a more positive attitude toward AIDS than did nurses who had originally refused to care for AIDS patients in the pre-test and post-test (p < 0.01). In conclusion, the in-service education apparently enhanced the knowledge of AIDS, however, no statistical difference was established for changes in nurses' attitudes or in their willingness to care for AIDS patients. In order to provide better nursing care, we believe, AIDS knowledge needs to be further promoted.