A study to investigate the perception of student nurses on assessing knowledge, attitude and misconception of first year nursing students towards people living with HIV/AIDS.

Abstract

This study addressed the problem of stigma and discrimination (SAD) exhibited by nurses against patients living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). The study was conducted among student nurses in Holy Family Nursing and Midwifery Training College, in Berekum, the Bono region of Ghana. It assessed their knowledge on HIV and examined the Attitude they exhibit in their care and relation with PLWHA and their misconceptions.The study was conducted with 50 randomly chosen respondents from the final year class, who responded to the questionnaires based on their personal experience in the care of PLWHA. A qualitative descriptive method was used in the study and SPSS version 21 was used in the data analysis.The study revealed that, majority of the respondents had adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS as a disease. However, there were some respondents whose response suggested some sort of negative attitude towards PLWHA such as wearing two set of gloves when attending to an infected client, avoiding any social contact such as purchasing food from them and even avoiding conducting risky procedures on them, all with the excuse that they may get infected. The study also revealed that most of the nursing students had a positive attitude towards PLWHA despite their exposure to misconceptions and false claims.The study recommended that, Routine monitoring and evaluation of the practices of student nurses and Midwives during the care of people with HIV and AIDS should be organised by the Nurses and Midwifery Council so that various Health Institutions will ensure that their students conform to the standard guidelines and practices during the care of people living with HIV and AIDS in a way that conforms to the ethics of their professional