Serial surveys of Hong Kong medical students regarding attitudes towards HIV/AIDS from 2007 to 2017

With widespread adoption of antiretroviral therapy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemiology has changed since the late 2000s. Accordingly, attitudes towards the disease may also have changed. Because medical students are future physicians, their attitudes have important implications in access to care among patients with HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Here, we performed a survey to compare medical students' attitudes towards HIV/AIDS between the late 2000s (2007-2010) and middle 2010s (2014- 2017).

From 2007 to 2010, we surveyed three cohorts of medical students at the end of clinical training to assess their attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. From 2014 to 2017, we surveyed three additional cohorts of medical students at the end of clinical training to compare changes in attitudes towards HIV/AIDS between the late 2000s and middle 2010s. Each set of three cohorts was grouped together to maximise sample size; comparisons were performed between the 2007-2010 and 2014-2017 cohorts.

From 2007 to 2010, 546 medical students were surveyed; from 2014 to 2017, 504 students were surveyed. Compared with students in the late 2000s, significantly fewer students in the mid-2010s initially encountered patients with HIV during attachment to an HIV clinic or preferred to avoid work in a field involving HIV/AIDS; significantly more students planned to specialise in HIV medicine. Student willingness to provide HIV care remained similar over time: approximately 78% of students were willing to provide care in each grouped cohort.

Although medical students had more positive attitudes towards HIV/AIDS, their willingness to provide HIV care did not change between the late 2000s and middle 2010s.