Stigma towards People Living on HIV/AIDS and Associated Factors among Nurses' Working in Amhara Region Referral Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction. HIV/AIDS-related stigma occurs in the world towards people living with HIV/AIDS in a different form. Stigma among nurses in health care setting is one of the main challenges towards the prevention and management of HIV/AIDS in developing countries. It is one of the main reasons keeping patients from seeking health care service. Therefore assessing the magnitude of stigma and associated factors towards people living on HIV/AIDS among nurses is of paramount importance for the quality of nursing care as well as service utilization. Methods. An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2013. Pretested and structured questionnaire via self-administration was used in the tool of HIV/AIDS Stigma Instrument-Nurse (HASI-N). Data were entered using EPI info version 3.5.3 and transferred to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics were conducted to summarize the sample characteristics. A backward stepwise logistic regression model was fitted and adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was calculated to identify associated factors. Results. A total of 386 nurses participated yielding a response rate of 97.2%. Nearly two-thirds (64.5%) of them have shown stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS in the health institution. Qualification level of diploma or certificate, lack of training, experiences of <06 years, low HIV patient caseload seen in the last six months, and the absence of guidelines/protocols about HIV/AIDS in their health institution were associated factors for stigma. Conclusions. The findings of this research showed high magnitude of stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS among nurses. For stigma to be decreased nurses need to update their knowledge through training and experience sharing with senior staff. And it is crucial that the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Amhara Regional Health Bureau, and the two hospitals work for decreasing stigma by creating educational development, ensuring accessibility of guidelines about HIV/AIDS, and providing access to training.