Document 1095
 DOCN  M9591095
 TI    Attitudes of medical students toward the acquired immune deficiency
       syndrome (AIDS).
 DT    9509
 AU    Wickramasuriya TV; Faculty of Medical Sciences, U.W.I., Cave Hill,
       Barbados.
 SO    West Indian Med J. 1995 Mar;44(1):7-10. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/95313399
 AB    Several studies have reported negative attitudes toward AIDS patients,
       homosexuals and drug abusers among physicians, nurses, and health
       workers in training. To examine attitudes towards AIDS of a group who in
       the near future would be practising physicians in the Caribbean, medical
       students at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies
       were surveyed regarding their attitudes toward AIDS. This paper analyses
       responses to 21 Attitude Items with reference to five primary areas
       related to AIDS: Testing for HIV, Homosexuality, Fear of Contagion,
       Comfort in Interacting with AIDS Patients, and Intention to care for
       Persons with AIDS. The analysis indicates that these students were all
       not comfortable with issues related to homosexuality, and there was wide
       variation and some inconsistency in opinions regarding controversial and
       contentious issues. Most of these students, regardless of their choice
       of specialty after graduating, will eventually come into contact with an
       HIV-positive individual or an AIDS patient. There is a distinct
       possibility that biases and misperceptions held during the period of
       training are at risk of being carried over into clinical practice,
       resulting in unwillingness, or even refusal, to treat certain types of
       patients. What has also become evident is that emphasis should be placed
       on ethical and attitudinal training within the Faculty of Medical
       Sciences. Our future doctors have to be trained to effectively manage
       the many psycho-social, ethical, and legal problems that will be
       generated by the AIDS epidemic. What is urgently needed, therefore, is
       relevant curriculum design and development in the area of AIDS Education
       directed at the region's future physicians.
 DE    Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome/*PSYCHOLOGY  Adult  *Attitude of
       Health Personnel  Female  Homosexuality, Male/PSYCHOLOGY  Human  Male
       Personality Inventory  Physician-Patient Relations  Refusal to Treat
       Students, Medical/*PSYCHOLOGY  Substance Abuse, Intravenous/PSYCHOLOGY
       West Indies  JOURNAL ARTICLE

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