Attitudes of US physician assistants toward persons with HIV/AIDS

Early in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a large number of health care workers had negative attitudes toward persons infected with HIV, but a more positive shift has occurred in these attitudes over the past decade. However, recent information about attitudes of physician assistants (PAs) is missing.

A nationwide randomized sample of 1,500 PAs was surveyed through the US mail. The AIDS Attitudes Scale (AAS) developed by Froman, Owen, and Daisy in 1992 was used for this purpose. The results were analyzed using descriptive, t test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics.

A majority of respondents had high empathy, low avoidance, and positive general attitude scores. Respondents living in the South had the highest avoidance and lowest general attitude scores compared with those living in other regions (ANOVA, P < .05).

The results were consistent with similar current studies of health care workers, which demonstrated supportive attitudes towards persons with HIV/AIDS.