Willingness to take care of HIV positive people: Responses from Russian nursing students

Abstract

This article is a report of a study on Russian nursing students’ willingness to take care of people living with HIV or AIDS (PLWHA). HIV and AIDS are continuing to spread in Russia. Nursing students’ willingness to care for people living with HIV or AIDS is one aspect that should also be taken in consideration on this transmission situation. In total, 102 nursing students participated in the study (the response rate was 95.3%). The data were collected using the Nurse Willingness Questionnaire (NWQ) and analysed using SPSS version 15 for Windows. The study showed that nursing students’ willingness to care for PLWHA was low when asked with one general question but quite high when asked more specifically related to some nursing activities. Nursing students were more willing to perform clean nursing activities than activities with infectious risk. There is a great need for improving understanding of and proficiency in safety work with HIV-infected patients.