Developing a Scale for Measuring Attitudes of Health Professionals towards PLWHA

Haregot, Esayas (2007) Developing a Scale for Measuring Attitudes of Health Professionals towards PLWHA. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Back ground: - No other disease in recent history has generated so much concern, fear, anxiety, and prejudice both among health care personnel and the general public as has HIV/AIDS. Health providers’ attitudes about HIV/AIDS constitute an important dimension in the delivery of quality care to persons with HIV/AIDS. Besides these facts, very little is known about the attitudes of health professionals towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Objective: - This study was aimed at developing a scale for measuring attitudes of health professionals towards PLWHA and evaluating the reliability and validity of the scale. Methodology:-A cross-sectional study was conducted at 10 government hospitals in Addis Ababa between the months of February 2006 and February 2007. The study consisted of two phases: identifying attitude items for the instrument; and administering the instrument in its revised form to 474 health professionals [nurses and physicians] for rating. The instrument was initially pilot tested with other group of 44 health professionals. The instrument was analyzed for reliability and validity throughout the process. SPSS version 11 was used for analysis. Results: A 22-item ‘attitude towards PLWHA scale’ had been developed with good internal consistency [Cronbach's alpha =0.79], and showed good construct and concurrent validity. Comparison of different groups suggested that nurses and health professionals with limited experience have more negative attitudes towards PLWHA. Factor analysis yielded three subscales explaining 34.35% of the variance: testing PLWHA, stigmatizing attitude, and care/ services. Conclusions: The ‘attitudes towards PLWHA’ demonstrated strong reliability for the total scale. Continuing study, however, is vital in revising and optimizing the instrument to improve the quality of the scale overtime and externally validate it.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Depositing User:	Vincent Mpoza
Date Deposited:	21 Jun 2018 07:30
Last Modified:	21 Jun 2018 07:30
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/5333

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