DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ASIAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE AMERICAN DENTISTS IN ATTITUDES TOWARD TREATMENT OF HIV-POSITIVE PATIENTS

In a survey of Asian (n=115)versus white (Caucasian) (n=920) dentists practicing in two boroughs of New York City, Asian dentists expressed significantly more negative attitudes toward and more unwillingness to treat HIV-positive patients than did white dentists. Despite this con sistent pattern across most survey items, the two groups were more sim ilar regarding perceptions of professional obligation and their collea gue's willingness to treat those with HIV. In an examination of the in fluence of acculturation processes on these attitudes, a comparison of attitude differences among the subgroup of Asian dentists receiving t heir dental education in the United States versus abroad showed some d ifferences, with Asian dentists educated outside the United States exp ressing somewhat more negative attitudes. As Asian Americans become in creasingly represented among practicing dentists in the United States, their relative unwillingness to treat HIV-positive patients may have an impact on access to oral health care among HIV-positive persons liv ing in the United States.