Are You Positive?: AIDS, Attitudes and Physiotherapy

This study was conducted to find out the attitudes of chartered physiotherapists towards people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). A convenience sample of 144 chartered physiotherapists of all grades from nine institutions in the United Kingdom was used in the study. The physiotherapists were surveyed using a self-completion postal questionnaire. The attitude scores were generally high indicating positive attitudes towards people with HIV and AIDS. Statistical analysis using t-tests and ANOVA showed that women were found to have more positive attitudes than men. There were differing attitudes according to age, with those aged 40 plus having less positive attitudes than those aged 39 and under. Those respondents who had worked with people with HIV and AIDS had significantly more positive attitudes than those who had not worked with this client group. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in attitudes between those who had had training in HIV and AIDS and those who had not. Finally, whether the region was one of high or low prevalence had an effect on attitudes, with those in high prevalence areas having significantly more positive attitudes. The level of significance used in this study was p = > 0.05.