Nursing students (N = 124) voluntarily completed a questionnaire designed to measure attitudes towards patients with AIDS. The questionnaire included one of two vignettes, a prejudicial evaluation scale, and the Index of Homophobia. Results indicate that nursing students expressed a significantly more negative attitude toward the homosexual patient with AIDS. Homophobia accounted for a substantial amount of variation in the difference in expressed attitude between heterosexual and homosexual AIDS patients. The researchers recommend that nursing students and other prospective health care workers be provided educational programs dealing with AIDS which include study of homophobia and homosexuality.
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