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Medical Students' Perceptions of and Willingness to Treat Patients Who Are HIV Infected 1
Author(s) -
Ladany Nicholas,
Stern Marilyn,
Inman Arpana G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01666.x
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , social psychology , family medicine , medicine , neuroscience
The purpose of this study is to examine the independent and joint influences of a patient's mode of acquisition of illness (blood transfusion vs. multiple sexual partners), attributions of responsibility (self‐blame vs. chance blame), and sexual orientation (homosexual vs. heterosexual) on female and male medical students' attitudes toward and willingness to treat a patient who is HIV infected. One hundred nineteen 1st through internship‐year medical students were randomly assigned to read and respond to case vignettes. Greater consistency between attribution of blame and mode of acquisition was related to more positive perceptions. Furthermore, the patient's sexual orientation influenced the providers' willingness to offer treatment, particularly for male medical students. Implications concerning health practices and medical education are considered.