KNOWLEDGE OF AND ATTITUDES TO AIDS AMONG ARAB PROFESSIONALS IN ISRAEL

While AIDS in Israel is not considered to be a pressing crisis, the ai m of the research is to document and analyze what Arab professionals l iving in Israel know and how they feel about AIDS. The study also expl ores thoughts and feelings concerning AIDS-related education and train ing. This is the first scholarly attempt to investigate Israeli Arab p rofessionals' attitudes and knowledge towards a stigmatized topic such as the AIDS epidemic. The study sample consists of 132 Arab professio nals, including social workers, nurses and those working in various ar eas of education. Results indicate that professionals' knowledge score s were significantly higher than their attitude scores.