Charitable giving for HIV and AIDS: results from a Canadian national survey.

BACKGROUND: For the first time, a national survey of adults in Canada posed questions on charitable giving for HIV and AIDS. The objective of this analysis was to explore the behaviour and attitudes of this population in terms of charitable giving. METHODS: In 2011, individuals in Canada 16 years of age or older were recruited for a survey from an online panel supplemented by random digit dial telephone interviewing. The margin of error was +/-2.1 percentage points (95%). Chi-square tests were used to detect bivariate associations. A multivariate logistic regression model was fit to compare those who had donated to HIV and AIDS in the past 12 months with those who had donated to other disease or illness charities. RESULTS: 2,139 participated. 82.5% had donated to a charitable cause in the past 12 months. 22.2% had ever donated to HIV and AIDS, with 7.8% doing so in the past 12 months. Individuals who had donated to HIV and AIDS versus other disease or illness charities tended to be younger (p<0.05), single (p<0.005), more highly educated (p<0.001) and to self-identify as a member of a sexual minority group (p<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed individuals who self-identified as a member of a sexual minority group were significantly much more likely to have donated to HIV and AIDS than to other disease or illness charities in the past 12 months (OR, 7.73; p<0.001; CI 4.32-13.88). DISCUSSION: Despite a generally philanthropic orientation, relatively few respondents had ever been involved in charitable giving for HIV and AIDS. Those who had could be understood relationally as individuals at closer social proximity to HIV and AIDS such as members of sexual minority groups.

The value of experiential education in dietetics.

A survey was sent to 2000 Registered Dietitians (RD) who passed the national registration exam between 1996 and 1999. RDs were asked to self-report their perceived value of professional preparation attained from four areas of dietetic education: didactic program, supervised practice, work experience, and continuing education. Five questions in the survey asked RDs to estimate the contribution of these four areas, in percentage, to their ability, confidence, knowledge, skills and competence as an RD. Analysis of the data included descriptive statistics and two-way correlation. The return rate for the survey was 45.0%. The dietetic internship consistently received the highest mean response for all five aspects of professional development. Knowledge (31.3%) was the highest contribution from the didactic program. The internship contributed the most to skill development (44.8%). Confidence (32.5%) was the greatest contribution from work experience, and knowledge (8.6%) from continuing education. When asked to indicate their first area of practice, 63.5% of the participants reported working in a clinical position, 19.2% reported community/public health, 13.8% reported other, 12.6% reported food service/management and 3.5% reported entrepreneurial/business. Participants' responses indicate that the internship is a critical aspect of dietetics education in order to develop ability, confidence, knowledge, skills, and competence to practice as an RD. However, each component of dietetic education contributed a unique aspect of professional development that is necessary in the preparation of an entry-level dietitian.