Beliefs and Attitudes of Medical Students from Public and Private Universities in Malaysia towards Individuals with HIV/AIDS
Table 4
Public and private medical students’ attitudes towards giving care to individuals with HIV/AIDS.
Items
Public*
Private*
value#
1
2
3
4
5
mean
1
2
3
4
5
mean
(1) I am concerned that I am not trained to properly counsel a patient with HIV/AIDS
70
215
68
19
6
2.14
126
284
146
69
17
2.33
0.003
(2) I am concerned about being stigmatized by my family because I have to provide care for patients with HIV/AIDS
6
42
92
165
73
3.68
13
49
133
205
242
3.96
<0.001
(3) I am concerned about being stigmatized by friends because I have to provide care for patients with HIV/AIDS
3
44
78
170
83
3.76
10
43
119
215
255
4.03
<0.001
(4) I will be more comfortable giving care to non-HIV patients than to HIV- positive/AIDS patients
27
114
125
90
22
2.91
34
176
201
132
99
3.13
0.002
(5) I would refuse to treat a patient infected with HIV/AIDS to protect my family and myself
2
11
56
210
99
4.04
4
14
90
263
271
4.22
<0.001
(6) I may try to avoid caring for HIV/AIDS patients
2
24
71
195
86
3.90
6
29
113
254
240
4.08
0.001
(7) I feel uncomfortable around people who are infected with HIV/AIDS
4
47
109
161
57
3.58
10
77
157
218
180
3.75
0.010
(8) I would feel uncomfortable to provide care for a family member sick with HIV/AIDS
1
21
62
210
84
3.94
7
31
99
258
247
4.10
0.004
(9) I fear becoming infected with HIV if I have to care for an HIV/AIDS patient
19
144
79
94
42
2.99
40
155
158
156
133
3.29
<0.001
*Number of respondents under each category of the Likert scale: 1: strongly agree; 2: agree; 3: neutral; 4: disagree; 5: strongly disagree.
# value derived from comparison of means between public and private medical students; 95% confidence interval.
