Attitudes towards Aids and locus of control

a study with students and nursing professionals

Abstract

To determine the relationship between some attitudes of health professionals towards
AIDS and the perception of the control exerted on the conditions under wich care is provided, attitudes
scales were developed and applied to 83 subjects and the Control Locus on the situation in wich the HIV
patient receives care was later determined. Using the attitude model of Fishbein-Ajzen (1975) as the
theoretical reference point, together with the concept of Locus of Control proposed by Levenson (1973),
wich considers controls localized in internality, externality and teleology, differential studies were
conducted on nursing professionals and students, considering activity and educational level as
determinant variables. Analysis of the differences of the means between the subgrups defined by activity
indicated a higher internality index (T=2.76; p=.007) among the professionals, with more negative
attitudes towards embarassment (T=2.76; p=.009) and less negative attitudes towards stigma
(T=3.73; p=<.001). Professionals with higher education showed less positive attitudes towards support
(T=–2.06; p=.04). Considering the professionals as a whole, significant correlations were detected between
internality and stigma (r=-.30) and between teleology and embarassment (r=–.31). For the college
students as a whole, the attitudes towards support were significantly correlated with externality (r=+.41)
and teleology (r=+.26). In agreement with the literature, for non-college level professionals there was a
prevalence of the tendency to evaluate more positively the support given to the patient, determined by
teleological beliefs. Among professionals in general, internality seems to influence more negative
evaluations to the stigma of HIV patients.