Table 1.
Baseline demographic information (part A) and experiences (part B) of the participants
| Clinicians (n=75) | Nurses (n=211) | Medical students (n=205) | Nursing students (n=123) | DMLT students (n=36) | |
| Part A: Baseline demographic information | |||||
| Age, mean (SD) | 28 (4) | 25 (6) | 20 (1) | 21 (3) | 20 (2) |
| Sex, n (%) | |||||
| Male | 30 (40) | 148 (70) | 109 (53) | 51 (41) | 28 (78) |
| Female | 45 (60) | 63 (30) | 96 (47) | 72 (59) | 8 (22) |
| Married, n (%) | 21 (28) | 70 (33) | – | 11 (9) | 35 (97) |
| Religion, n (%) | |||||
| Hindu | 62 (83) | 192 (91) | 183 (89) | 120 (98) | 31 |
| Muslim | 2 (3) | 5 (2) | 6 (3) | 3 (2.4) | 4 |
| Christian | 2 (3) | 10 (5) | 1 (0.5) | – | – |
| Other | 9 (12) | 4 (2) | 15 (7) | – | 2 |
| Have you ever attended any HIV/AIDS-related training? Yes, n (%) | 3 (4) | 39 (18) | 63 (31) | 28 (23) | 28 (78) |
| Part B: Experiences of participants | |||||
| Have you ever cared for PLWHA before? Yes, n (%) |
37 (49) | 121 (57) | 4 (2) | 88 (72) | 18 (50) |
| If yes, how many times have you cared for PLWHA? | |||||
| Less than 10 times | 29 (78) | 59 (49) | 2 (50) | 61 (69) | 5 (28) |
| Less than 50 times | 2 (5) | 27 (22) | – | 14 (20) | 8 (44) |
| More than 100 times | 1 (3) | 19 (16) | – | – | 5 (28) |
| Cannot recall the numbers/too many | – | 16 (13) | 2 (50) | 13 (15) | – |
| §Have you ever had an accidental exposure with body fluid of PLWHA, at work? Yes, n (%)* | 4 (11) | 24 (20) | 3 (75) | 14 (16) | 1 (6) |
| Have you ever refused to care for PLWHA? Yes, n (%) | 6 (8) | 18 (9) | 6 (3) | 6 (5) | 4 (11) |
| Have you discriminated against PLWHA at the workplace? Yes, n (%) | 7 (9) | 42 (20) | 22 (11) | 13 (11) | 5 (19) |
| Do you think your colleagues discriminate against PLWHA? Yes, n (%) | 21 (28) | 45 (21) | 51 (25) | 28 (23) | 6 (17) |
| Is your family aware that you ought to care for PLWHA patients as well? Yes, n (%) | 49 (65) | 134 (64) | 127 (62) | 100 (81) | 16 (72) |
| Is there any family pressure regarding caring for PLWHA? Yes, n (%) | 15 (20) | 46 (22) | 16 (8) | 15 (12) | 8 (22) |
| Do you have any friend or family who is identified as PLWHA? Yes, n (%) | 3 (4) | 16 (8) | 3 (2) | 5 (4) | 2 (6) |
| There is enough equipment to maintain universal precautions at workplace. Yes, n (%) | 20 (27) | 126 (60) | 79 (39) | 84 (68) | 19 (53) |
| Have you ever had any accidental exposure to HIV through PLWHA at work? Yes, n (%) | 4 (5) | 24 (11) | 3 (1) | 14 (11) | 1 (3) |
Yes, n (%) is the proportion of the participants who responded ‘Yes’ to the questions asked.
The variables where totals do not add up to 100%, the remaining percentage of the participants did not respond to that question.
*Proportion calculated from patients who confirmed that they have ever cared for PLWHA.
DMLT, students of Diploma in Medical and Laboratory Technology; PLWHA, people living with HIV/AIDS; Medical students/ MBBS students, students of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.