Attitude of healthcare students towards HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV in selected dental and nursing colleges at Chennai, India

Introduction: The healthcare personnel and people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) need to understand each other for advancement of healthcare delivery system. The attitude of healthcare people contributes a lot to achieve good practices towards the same people who are in deliberate need of support for their living. The aim of this study was to assess the attitude of 600 healthcare students in dental and nursing colleges towards HIV/AIDS and people living with HIV infection (PLHIV), and associate the attitude with demographic data. Material and methods: A quantitative study was carried out to obtain information from 600 healthcare students of six nursing and three dental colleges in Chennai, India to assess the level of attitude regarding HIV and PLHIV. Non-probability convenient sampling technique with simple randomiza-tion was used for the selection of samples. Reliability of tool was assessed by test-retest method, as r = 0.7, and content validity was obtained from the experts. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS package version 22.0. Results: Among 600 participants, 53% had negative attitude, 29% had moderately positive attitude, and 18% had positive attitude towards taking care of HIV-infected people. The mean score was 18.91 (range, 0-60) with standard deviation of ±13.07. Their attitude level was significantly associated with the source of information about HIV/AIDS, but not with the other demographic variable such as age, gender, family income, and parents’ occupation. Conclusions: Healthcare students are in need of intense teaching program with various methods, which can change their attitude to eliminate the fear and stigma towards HIV/AIDS and taking care of people living with HIV/AIDS. antiretroviral treatment, HIV prevention, healthcare society, stigma.