INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION ON SELF-PERCEIVED ATTITUDES ABOUT HIV AIDS AMONG HUMAN-SERVICES PROVIDERS

Participants in a number of different HIV/AIDS educational programs, v arying in content, length of course, and student audience, were survey ed to determine if education could help reduce fear and increase comfo rt in work with HIV/AIDS clients. It was hypothesized that attitude sc ores would improve following exposure to the educational programs. A r etrospective pretest-posttest survey design consisting of Likert state ments was used. A t test for paired samples determined if attitude sco res improved following exposure to the educational programs. An analys is of variance determined if significant differences in pretest and po sttest scores existed among the groups. Within groups, there was a pos itive increase in self-assessed attitude scores. Multiple group compar isons indicated significant differences between groups that appear to be related to program content and length. Workplace risk and whether a program was elective may have also been factors affecting attitude.