Bachelor of Nursing students’ HIV and AIDS knowledge in KwaZulu-Natal province: An evaluation study

Abstract

Background Currently, human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV and AIDS) education and training in nursing suffer from various inadequacies and lack any real formalisation in their governance. As a result, Bachelor of Nursing students find themselves challenged in providing effective HIV and AIDS healthcare management, largely because of the deficit in training identified. An HIV and AIDS education intervention programme was introduced at a selected KwaZulu-Natal university to assist in bridging the perceived knowledge gap. This article communicates programme evaluation findings. Objectives The aim of this article was to determine levels of HIV knowledge achieved following an HIV education intervention programme. Methods A pure, descriptive quantitative research design was employed, using total population sampling ( N = 133). A modified G3658-11 Collecting Evaluation Data: End-of-Session Questionnaire, developed by the University of Wisconsin–Extension, was administered for data collection. Results Females predominated in the study, and most participants were African with 1 to 3 years of education programme exposure. Perceived HIV knowledge increase was evident: pathophysiology ( n = 93, 70.2%); immunology ( n = 97, 72.9%); transmission ( n = 116, 87.5%); diagnosis ( n = 109, 81.8%); prevention strategies ( n = 118, 88.4%); staging and monitoring ( n = 106, 80%); pre- and post-test counselling ( n = 104, 78%). Conclusion Pre- and ongoing in-service HIV and AIDS training can improve perceived HIV knowledge levels for both nursing students and professionals. Mandatory HIV and AIDS healthcare management training is therefore recommended in planning for its effective impartation by nursing educators.

The Effect of the Infectious Disease Nursing Course on Turkish Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Towards AIDS: A Quasi-Experimental Study

“…The section that measures knowledge of AIDS consists of 21 items and the options given for each item are "true", "uncertain" and "false". The scale consists of three subscales: transmission (13,10,5,4,12,7,17), prevention and general information (1,11,18,21,3,20,6,8,2) and treatment (9,16,19,14,15 In the study conducted by Aydemir et al, Cronbach alpha value was found to be 0.91 [25]. In our study, the value of Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.80.…”

“…In the study conducted by Machowska et al evaluating the effect of stigma-reduction workshops' on the knowledge and attitude of healthcare providers and students, the knowledge level of nursing students was found to increase from 30% before the education to 59% after the education and the difference between the knowledge scores of all study groups was statistically significant [20]. In the study conducted by Ngcobo & Mchunu evaluating the knowledge of HIV/AIDS in 133 nursing students, the highest level of knowledge was found to be 87.5% and the lowest one was 54.1%; the education was effective [10]. The current study is consistent with the literature and it was concluded that the Infectious Diseases Nursing course given to students contributed to the increase in their knowledge of HIV/AIDS.…”

“…Therefore, this age group, including nursing students, is among the groups with the highest risk of encountering HIV/AIDS. It is important to evaluate the knowledge and practices of these risk groups and to provide necessary information to prevent the increase of HIV/AIDS cases [10,11]. Insufficient and deficient knowledge of HIV/AIDS among nursing students also has an impact on the knowledge of the communities around them and may cause the emergence of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination and stigmatization.…”

“…According to the literature, the nursing students' level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS is not sufficient and they exhibit negative attitudes towards care [8,12,13,[15][16][17][18][19]. When nursing students received the education on HIV/AIDS, their knowledge level was found to be increased and they had a pos-itive attitude [10,11,[20][21][22][23]. The decrease in the nursing students' concerns about HIV/AIDS and their positive attitudes led to an increase in their patients' care seeking and treatment compliance, more positive health outcomes, and, thus, an increase in care quality and a decrease in stigmatization [12,16,17,24].…”

Investigação-ação sobre o VIH/SIDA em estudantes de enfermagem

“…Em ambos os casos, a comunicação parental é essencial para a diminuição dos comportamentos de risco e para a promoção da saúde sexual e prevenção do VIH/SIDA. Verificamos que houve melhorias do conhecimento após a formação, resultado corroborado em outros estudos (Frain, 2017;Ngcobo, & Mchunu, 2019).…”