Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to identify and compare the level of knowledge, attitude and the care towards people living with AIDS (PLWH/A) among professional nurses of different background and to determine the relationship between these variables. The sample consisted of five hundred experienced and inexperienced professional nurses (working in hospital in the Eastern region of Thailand). The research instrument was a questionnaire which had been validated and tested for reliability. Data were analyzed by frequencies, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test, correlation, and multiple regression.Findings were :1. Professional nurses' knowledge attitude towards AIDS were both at the "moderate" level while their care for PLWH/A was at the "good" level.2. Married nurses were found to take better care of PLWH/A than single nurses at a level of significance of .01. There were no statistical significant differences in knowledge on AIDS and attitude toward PLWH/A between professional nurses when classified by marital status. There was no difference regarding knowledge attitude and care for PLWH/A between professional nuses who had experience and those who had no experience (at a level ov significance of .05.).3. There was no correlation between the level of care for PLWH/A and knowledge on AIDS perceived by the professional nurses (at a level of significance of .05). However, the level of care for PLWH/A had a positive correlation to attitude, age, and the years of experience of professional nurses (at a level of significance of .05).4. Attitude and age of professional nurses could be combined to predict the level of care behavior of professional nurses for PLWH/A at a significance of .05 .