Sociodemographic determinants of knowledge, attitude and practices of Ghanaian nurses towards persons living with HIV and AIDS in Kumasi
Boakye, Dorothy; Konadu, Emmanuel; Mavhandu-Mudzusi, Azwihangwisi Helen
Introduction: Despite increasing knowledge, and awareness on HIV/AIDS, Countries and health institutions are
still struggling to deal with the issues of stigma and discrimination towards patients living with HIV and AIDS
amongst its staff. An investigation into other potential determinants/influences of nurses’ knowledge, attitudes,
and practices towards HIV/AIDS such as sociodemographic factors is therefore necessary
Methods: The study used correlational cross- sectional design. A total of 247 participants from five selected health
facilities were recruited through a simple random sampling. Chi-square analysis and Spearman’s rank correlation
were used to measure the level of association between the sociodemographic variables and knowledge, attitude
and practices. Mean scores were calculated for knowledge, attitude and practices.
Results: The study reported a significant correlation between nurses’ knowledge and professional rank, year of
work experience, in-service training, age, and their practice [(r = 0.216; p = 0.002), (r = 0.278; p = 0.0001),
(r = 0.174; p = 0.010), (r = 0.173; r = 0.011), and (r = 0.176; p = 0.011)] respectively. Also, a significant
correlation was observed between practice and age of the nurses (r = 0.151, p = 0.030). The attitude was
positively associated with knowledge, professional rank, educational level, work experience, and age but
negatively associated with practice and in-service training however there was no statistically significant
correlation.
Conclusion and recommendation: Nurses’ knowledge, attitude and practice was directly correlated with their
sociodemographic characteristics which suggests that policies and interventions aimed at improving nurses’
knowledge, attitudes and practices should take into account their sociodemographic characteristics.
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