Analysis of discriminatory attitudes against HIV patients and influencing factors among medical staff: A cross-sectional study from China.

OBJECTIVE

Discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) among medical staff is a major barrier to effective HIV prevention and treatment. This study examined the current status of discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA among Chinese medical staff and identified the influencing factors.

STUDY

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

Data were collected from 917 medical staff in 2 provincial-level and 10 municipal-level public hospitals in Hubei Province, China, to assess their discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA, and binary logistic regression was used to analyse the influencing factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA among medical staff was 62.8 %. Their perceived institutional support, perceived work risk, and HIV knowledge scores were 2.21 ± 0.54, 3.08 ± 0.58, and 5.48 ± 2.42, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that medical staff from lower-level hospitals (OR = 1.821; 95 % CI: 1.047-2.568), those who had not received HIV-related training (OR = 2.423; 95 % CI: 1.237-4.747), and those with greater perceived work risk (OR = 1.148; 95 % CI: 1.009-1.307) were more likely to adopt discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA. Conversely, medical staff with a master's degree or higher (OR = 0.348; 95 % CI: 0.161-0.750), greater perceived institutional support (OR = 0.930; 95 % CI: 0.890-0.971), and greater HIV knowledge (OR = 0.221; 95 % CI: 0.053-0.921) were less likely to exhibit discriminatory attitudes.

CONCLUSION

Discriminatory attitudes towards PLWHA remain widespread among medical staff in China. To reduce medical discrimination and improve the effectiveness of HIV prevention and control measures, systematic interventions are needed in terms of policy support, healthcare institution management, and medical education and training.