Clinical psychology students' self-reported willingness to interact with persons living with HIV

Previous research has indicated that health care workers, including those in mental health, have negative attitudes toward people living with HIV and AIDS and may be unwilling to work with them in a professional capacity. Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (1985) was used as a model for better understanding the specific components of these attitudes. In this project doctoral students in clinical psychology read a vignette describing a person who is HIV positive and then completed a set of measures regarding willingness to interact professionally, level of knowledge and attitudes toward HIV and AIDS, and attitudes regarding drug abusers and promiscuity. Results indicated that participants were generally willing to provide therapy for an HIV positive client, although some participants indicated that they would experience some anxiety in doing so. Level of anxiety could be predicted by attitudes toward AIDS and whether the participants believed that accepting an infected client would have negative effects for them personally or professionally.