Assessment of the Level of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice with Regard to Care of People Living with HIV/AIDS among Nursing and Midwifery Students in Fako, Cameroon

Abstract

Due to the chronic shortage of health personnel, nurses and midwives now play a fundamental role in the care and treatment of people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLHIV) in Cameroon. This study was therefore designed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice with regard to care of PLHIV among nursing and midwifery students in Fako division of Cameroon. A survey was performed between May and July 2015, among 227 nursing and midwifery students (in their second to final year of study), selected from 8 government accredited training institutions in Fako division of Cameroon. An anonymous self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The Pearson's chi-square test, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusting for possible confounders were all performed as part of the statistical analyses. The cutoff of statistical significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Nursing and midwifery students had a moderate level of HIV/AIDS knowledge (average score of 7.02 on a scale of 11). Attitude towards PLHIV was generally positive (68.7%) but there were some misconceptions and prejudice about PLHIV, with considerable stigmatization (31.3%), unwillingness to share a room with someone infected with HIV (27.7%), and unwillingness to work on PLHIV (23.8%). Good HIV/AIDS knowledge was observed to be the sole independent predictor (p = 0.004) of positive attitude towards PLHIV. Fur- 2 thermore the confidence of the respondents regarding care of PLHIV was generally moderate. Our results suggest the need for the development of a more appropriate education program in nursing and midwifery institutions in Fako division to reduce the discrepancies between the general knowledge, attitude and practice regarding care of PLHIV.

Knowledge of final year undergraduate nursing students about HIV and AIDS in Eswatini

“…15 The knowledge of undergraduate nursing students is reported to have been very high in other studies 16,17 and moderate or inadequate in some studies. 18,19 While the cure for HIV and AIDS has still not been found, the struggle to deal with the condition remains; thus, it is essential for undergraduate nursing students and other healthcare students to have detailed knowledge about HIV and AIDS. In this study, all the undergraduate nursing students agreed that a virus that attacks the body's immune system causes AIDS, and this is consistent with previous studies.…”

The Factors Affecting the Knowledge and Attitudes of Midwifery Students About AIDS

“…14,16 Sırasıyla Suudi Arabistan, İsrail, Kamerun ve Türkiye'de yapılan çalışmalarda, hemşirelik ve ebelik öğrencilerinin olumsuz tutuma sahip oldukları belirlenmiştir. [9][10][11][12] Tıp öğrencileriyle yapılan bir çalışmada, öğrencilerin %51'inin olumlu tutuma sahip oldukları bildirilmiştir. 20 Gana'da yapılan bir çalışmada, hemşirelik ve ebelik öğrencilerinin HIV testi ve danışmanlığı konusunda olumlu tutuma sahip oldukları belirtilmiştir.…”

“…9 Diğer bir çalışmada, hemşirelik ve ebelik öğrencilerinin %31'inin konuya ilişkin damgalamaya sahip oldukları ve %24'ünün HIV/AIDS'li bireye bakım vermek istemedikleri bildirilmiştir. 10 Yine bir başka çalışmada, hemşirelik öğrencilerinin %82'si bu hastaların diğer hastalarla aynı odayı paylaşmamaları ve %83'ü diğer hastalardan izole edilmeleri gerektiğini, %25'i bu hastaların başlarına gelen şeyi hak ettiklerini düşündüklerini ifade etmişlerdir. 11 Türkiye'de hemşirelik öğrencileriyle yapılan bir ça-lışmada, öğrencilerin %65'i AIDS'li olduğunu bildiği kişiden uzak duracaklarını belirtmişlerdir.…”

Prospective Cross-Sectional Study of the Uses of Non-prescription Analgesics among Hail Residents

“…The obtained data were converted into statistical data using Microsoft Excel 2013. The sample size was calculated by utilizing the online appliance Raosoft® sample size calculator using a 5% margin of error, a confidence level of 95%, population size of 407.000 5 and response distribution of 50%; the estimated sample size was 197 (Raosoft Sample Size Calculator) 6 . This is the sample size we were supposed to reach, according to the population of the city of Hail.…”