Nursing students’ attitudes towards HIV/AIDS: Ağrı, Istanbul and Mersin samples from Turkey

Objective: This study investigates nursing students’attitudes towards HIV/AIDS in three different provinces of Turkey. The chosen provinces are İstanbul, the largest and most crowded city of Turkey; Ağrı, which is located in the further east of Turkey with socio-economic disadvantages and finally Mersin, one of the most important port cities of Turkey. Methods: A total of 230 nursing students formed the population of this research. The research data was compiled through personal information forms and HIV/AIDS attitude inventory. HIV/AIDS Attitude Inventory (henceforth HAAI) is a 19-item 4 point Likert-type scale.Percentages and mean scores were executed and computed during data analysis. Students’ sociodemographic data were also analyzed. The following steps were followed for the analysis of attitude levels about HIV/AIDS through HAAI. Results: The results of the research reveal that nursing students in general have a positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS. No considerable difference was found between the academic background, marital status, having previous sexual experience or not, having a patient with HIV/AIDS, and caring for a person with HIV/AIDS or not in the different grade levels of the nursing school and their attitudes about HIV/AIDS. It was identified that nursing students with high anxiety level about caring for someone with HIV/AIDS have higher level of attitudes towards HIV/AIDS than those with lower levels of anxiety about this issue. Conclusion: This research was conducted in three different cities of Turkey and its results cannot be generalized to the country. In spite of its limitations, the results of this research can help reach some important and functional clues regarding nursing education. The nurses should be educated about this subject at universities to gain positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients.