Kg. Raphael et al., DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ASIAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE AMERICAN DENTISTS IN ATTITUDES TOWARD TREATMENT OF HIV-POSITIVE PATIENTS, AIDS education and prevention, 8(2), 1996, pp. 155-164
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.