Nurses' health education program in India increases HIV knowledge and reduces fear

Few health care facilities are adequately prepared to manage and care for HIV/AIDS patients in India. Nurses play a critical role in patient care but are often ill-equipped to deal with their own fears of occupational risk and handle the clinical aspects of HIV/AIDS care, leading to stigma and discrimination toward HIV-positive patients. The authors examine the impact of a 4-day HIV/AIDS health education program on knowledge and attitudes of nurses in a government hospital. This education program was developed using a training of trainers model and qualitative research. A total of 21 master trainers underwent 6 days of training and began training of 552 hospital nurses (in 2004-2005). Using a pretest-posttest design, the authors assessed changes in knowledge and attitudes of 371 trained nurses. Significant improvements were seen in nurses' HIV/AIDS knowledge in all areas including care, treatment, and issues of confidentiality and consent. Fear of interaction with people living with HIV/AIDS was reduced significantly. The short course was successful in increasing nurses' knowledge in all aspects. There is great potential to expand this stigma-reduction intervention to other public and private hospitals.