ATTITUDES OF NURSING FACULTY TOWARD PATIENTS WITH AIDS AND PATIENTS WITH A HOMOSEXUAL LIFESTYLE (IMMUNE DEFICIENCY).
Contributors: University of North Texas.
Published: 1991
Number of pages: 97
Subjects: Education, Administration.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether patients with AIDS are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (2) to determine whether practicing homosexuals are stigmatized by nursing faculty, (3) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward AIDS patients are influenced by the patients' sexual preference, and (4) to determine whether faculty attitudes toward practicing homosexual patient are influenced by the patients' disease. This study is a modified replication of studies by Kelly et al.

The population was nursing faculty in colleges and universities in Tarrant County, Texas. The participants were predominantly female between the ages of forty-six and fifty-five years. Seventy faculty members, 62.5% returned the data sheets.

Biographical data were gathered to determine the characteristics of the participants. Each participant received one of four vignettes describing a patient. Each vignette described a different combination of sexual preference (homosexual or heterosexual) and terminal disease (AIDS or metastatic bronchogenic lung cancer). After reading the vignette, each participant completed three evaluation inventories: the Interpersonal Attraction Inventory, the Prejudicial Evaluation Scale, and the Social Interaction Scale. Their responses reflected their opinions of the patient after reading the vignette. The data were analyzed using a two-by-two factorial analysis of variance.

Major findings include: (1) There were no interaction effects between sexual preference and disease. (2) There were no significant differences between group mean scores on any of the three inventories regarding nursing faculty attitudes toward patients with AIDS versus patients with lung cancer. (3) There were no significant differences between group mean scores on any of the three inventories regarding nursing faculty attitudes toward homosexual and heterosexual patients.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-04, Section: A, page: 1163.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS, 1991.

School code: 0158.