Measuring attitudes toward persons with AIDS: the AAS-G as an alternate form of the AAS

For most of the score of years that the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has been with us, we have been concerned with the care of and attitudes toward AIDS patients. As the treatment and face of AIDS changes, not all of those suffering with the disease are considered patients. Many are active community members, young and old, male and female. The AIDS Attitude Scale (AAS) is a widely used measure of health professionals' attitudes toward persons with AIDS who are patients. That scale was developed with the intended audience of respondents being nurses or others dealing directly with AIDS patients. This research details the development and validation of an alternate form of the AAS, the AAS-G, intended for use with the general public. The AAS-G may be completed by lay members of the community and is not limited to assessing attitudes toward patients alone. Reliability and validity information, Classical Test Theory estimates and Generalizability Theory estimates for psychometrics on the AAS-G are reported. These estimates are compared to the same estimates available for the AAS in order to make informed decisions about the utility of the new AAS-G. The AAS-G appears to be a promising, efficient instrument for measuring the attitudes of lay individuals toward persons with AIDS.