The attitude towards people living with HIV and AIDS(PLWHA) and AIDS knowledge and desire for AIDS related training among 1292 health workers in selected hospitals in Beijing / 中国艾滋病性病

ABSTRACT

Objective To understand the attitude of health workers towards people living with HIV and AIDS(PLWHA) and AIDS knowledge and desire for related training among them in selected hospitals in Beijing.Method Convenience sampling was used to select health workers from 32 hospitals of different levels in 4 districts within Beijing.Anonymous self-administrated questionnaires were used to collect the information regarding AIDS knowledge and desire for relevant training.Results A total of 1 292 health workers completed the questionnaire.They demonstrated a moderate level of general AIDS knowledge,but a low level of knowledge related to AIDS diagnosis and therapy.Of them 39.7% had received specialized AIDS training and 96% had strongly desire for such specialized training.Most health workers sympathized with PLWHA and understood their situation,while some of them were afraid of PLWHA and wanted to have minimal contact with PLWHA.91.3% of the health workers expressed that PLWHA should have the same rights to medical services.At the same time,49.2% of the health workers stated that they would not like to work in hospitals or departments which accepted PLWHA.80% of the health workers expressed concern over acquiring HIV infection in the workplace.52.7% of them thought that they had a risk of becoming infected in the workplace.Conclusion The level of AIDS knowledge among health workers in Beijing needs to be improved.Specialized training to enhance and develop health workers knowledge of prevention,diagnosis and treatment of AIDS is required.Most of the health workers do not discriminate against PLWHA,but they express concern over infection in the workplace.