Health care workers and HIV/AIDS: A critical review of the literature

This paper reviews the extensive literature which looks at the impact of HIV/AIDS on health care workers (HCWs). The knowledge and attitudes of HCWs toward people with HIV/AIDS and other relevant attitudes, for example those regarding male homosexuality have been widely studied whereas attitudes to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 1995-12, Vol.41 (11), p.1535-1567
Main Authors: Horsman, Janet M., Sheeran, Paschal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - psychology
AIDS
AIDS health care workers attitudes risk-perception people with AIDS
AIDS/HIV
Attitudes
Bioethics
Biological and medical sciences
Empirical Research
Female
Health and social institutions
Health care
health care workers
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health participants
Health Personnel - education
Health Personnel - psychology
Health professionals
HIV
HIV Infections - psychology
HIV Infections - transmission
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
Information Dissemination
Internationality
Literature reviews
Male
Medical personnel
Medical sciences
Nurses
Patients
people with AIDS
Perceptions
Physicians
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Refusal to Treat
risk-perception
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Summary:This paper reviews the extensive literature which looks at the impact of HIV/AIDS on health care workers (HCWs). The knowledge and attitudes of HCWs toward people with HIV/AIDS and other relevant attitudes, for example those regarding male homosexuality have been widely studied whereas attitudes to intravenous drug use are perhaps under-investigated. Three major themes of the literature are examined. These are fear of infection, beliefs about the right to refuse care and the stresses associated with caring for HIV positive people. A number of educational interventions which attempt to change HCWs attitudes and beliefs are reviewed. Some notable gaps in the literature are identified. Neglected areas include attitudes to women, people of colour and consideration of the organizational and societal factors mediating the impact of HIV upon healthcare workers. Limitations of the research techniques used are identified and future implications for health care workers are considered.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/0277-9536(95)00030-B