Abstract

FERNANDEZ DONAIRE, Lidia; FERNANDEZ NARVAEZ, Pilar  and  TOMAS-SABADO, Joaquín. Modification of attitudes regarding AIDS among nursing students: Findings of a pedagogic experiment. Educ. méd. [online]. 2006, vol.9, n.2, pp.84-90. ISSN 1575-1813.

The aim of this work was to verify whether a pedagogic intervention based on the use of active methodology, including both cooperative work and stimulus of discussion, was capable of modifying the students' attitude regarding HIV/AIDS. To this end, 80 nursing students were divided in two groups. The first (39 students) was the intervention group where the pedagogic experiment was performed. The second group (41 subjects) was used as a control. All students answered the AIDS Attitude Scale for Nursing (EASE) protocol at the beginning and end of the pedagogic trial. An analysis of the results demonstrates that a statistically significant positive change in the students' attitude is registered in the intervention group after having finished the training period, compared to the results obtained at the beginning of the trial. In contrast, no significant differences were observed between the results determined in the two tests for students in the control group. These findings confirm the effectiveness of the pedagogic methodology used to effect a positive change in student attitudes regarding topics such as AIDS; an area that is often subject to a social and cultural bias that can affect the quality of an individual's future work as a health-care professional.

Keywords : HIV/AIDS; Attitudes; Nursing Students; Pedagogic Methodology.

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