Development and validation of the mental health professionals’ attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS scale (MHP-PLHIV-AS)

Abstract

This study focused on the creation and validation of an instrument to measure mental health professionals' attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. Rasch analyses (Rash, 1960, 1980) provided evidence to support a twodimensional (societal and personal dimensions) measurement of this attitude construct.

How do geriatricians feel about managing older people living with HIV? A scoping review

“…The HIV-K-Q-45 is now over 20 years old and therefore contains outdated questions and concepts, for example asking if ‘a person can get HIV from a toilet seat’ [ 31 , 35 ]. Similarly, the AAS was only validated in groups of nurses, health education students and lay people but never doctors, or specifically geriatricians, meaning the results from Hughes’ study are less reliable as one would expect geriatricians to have a higher level of knowledge of HIV compared to nurses and social workers that could directly impact attitudes [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. The questions in the AAS are also outdated with several only exploring attitudes towards gay men or people who inject drugs and equating that with being synonymous with living with HIV [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…Similarly, the AAS was only validated in groups of nurses, health education students and lay people but never doctors, or specifically geriatricians, meaning the results from Hughes’ study are less reliable as one would expect geriatricians to have a higher level of knowledge of HIV compared to nurses and social workers that could directly impact attitudes [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. The questions in the AAS are also outdated with several only exploring attitudes towards gay men or people who inject drugs and equating that with being synonymous with living with HIV [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. These flaws restrict the clinical use of the AAS as they limit its ability to measure one attitude construct at a time, specifically attitudes towards people living with HIV, when the items bring in attitudes about differing constructs such as homosexuality [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…The questions in the AAS are also outdated with several only exploring attitudes towards gay men or people who inject drugs and equating that with being synonymous with living with HIV [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. These flaws restrict the clinical use of the AAS as they limit its ability to measure one attitude construct at a time, specifically attitudes towards people living with HIV, when the items bring in attitudes about differing constructs such as homosexuality [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. Attitudes towards LGBTQ + people have progressed since the validation studies for the AAS and Hughes’ study meaning their results have less pertinence today [ 28 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…These flaws restrict the clinical use of the AAS as they limit its ability to measure one attitude construct at a time, specifically attitudes towards people living with HIV, when the items bring in attitudes about differing constructs such as homosexuality [ 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. Attitudes towards LGBTQ + people have progressed since the validation studies for the AAS and Hughes’ study meaning their results have less pertinence today [ 28 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 37 ]. It must also be noted that Hughes chose to compare knowledge of and attitudes towards people living with HIV between geriatricians, nurses and social workers which are discrete professions [ 27 , 28 , 30 ].…”

Stigma and fear of getting sick in the care of people living with HIV: an exploratory systematic review

“…These behaviors can make people feel ashamed, guilty, or afraid to seek appropriate medical care. Additionally, people may be discouraged from disclosing their HIV status in healthcare for fear of discrimination or judgment, and this may negatively impact their access to healthcare and appropriate patient follow-up [11,12]. Additionally, professionals' fear of contracting HIV is an understandable concern [11][12][13].…”