Attitudes of Saudi nursing Students on AIDs and Predictors of willingness to

Background: This study aimed to assess HIV-related knowledge, attitudes and risk perception among Saudi nursing students, and to identify predictors of their willingness to provide care for patients with AIDS Methods: A cross sectional study of 260 baccalaureate nursing students at King Saud bin-Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was done using a previously validated instrument. Results: Students ’ knowledge percentage mean score (PMS) on HIV/AIDS was 72.93±10.67 reflecting an average level of knowledge. There were many misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted, e.g. use of same toilets and bathrooms and washing clothes together (24.9%), swimming (53.7%) and coughing and sneezing (49.6%). Nursing students reported an overall negative attitude towards AIDS, with a PMS of 43.48±9.21. The majority of students agreed that AIDs patients should be isolated from other patients (83%), and should not share the room with other non-infected patients (81.8%), and some reported that PLWA deserve what has happened to them (24.7%). After controlling for confounders, students ’ poor knowledge and negative attitude were associated only with having never been given nursing education as their primary high education (p=0.012 & p=0.01 respectively). Conclusion: These findings have implications for development of teaching strategies and curricular approache