E. Liikanen et H. Aavarinne, LABORATORY TECHNOLOGISTS ATTITUDES TOWARDS AIDS AND AIDS PATIENTS, Scandinavian journal of caring sciences, 11(4), 1997, pp. 212-216
The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of laboratory s
taff towards AIDS and AIDS patients and related factors. The populatio
n consisted of the working-age laboratory technologists living in Finl
and (n = 5 973). A sample of 249 laboratory technologists was selected
from the register of the National Research and Development Centre for
Welfare and Health using systematic random selection. The material wa
s collected with a questionnaire. The younger laboratory technologists
had more knowledge about AIDS than the older ones, and those who had
more knowledge about AIDS had a more positive attitude than those with
less knowledge. The attitudes were connected with the way the disease
was contracted: the most positive attitudes were expressed towards th
e patients who had contracted AIDS through blood transfusion and the m
ost negative towards the patients who had contracted AIDS from non-ste
rile needles. The factor analysis yielded six factors representing att
itudes. The fear factor explained most (19%) of the laboratory technol
ogists' attitudes towards AIDS and AIDS patients. The older laboratory
technologists were more afraid of work-related infections than the yo
unger ones. The laboratory technologists dth adequate knowledge of AID
S were less afraid of contracting the virus than those with little kno
wledge. They wanted information mainly on the care of AIDS patients, o
n how to respond to them and on the ways AIDS is transmitted.