Nurses are the professionals who encounter the patients the most. They should have more comprehensive conceptions about severe illnesses, including HIV/AIDS, than general society members. In the article “Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Willingness to Care Toward People with HIV/AIDS,” Gulsah Kok, Gulten Guvenc, and Zeliha Kaplan (2018) analyzed the attitude of the Turkish nursing students towards HIV/AIDS patients and concluded their willingness to help and provide appropriate care. This article has efficiently produced relevant results showing that the nursing students’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS is on the average level. There are strengths of the research related to the inclusiveness of the questionnaire inquiries. Moreover, there are limitations concerning the participant sample, generalizability, and replicability of the results.
Kok et al. (2018) used a sample of 325 nursing students in Turkey to examine the level of their knowledge and predict their behavior towards HIV/AIDS patients. The authors of the research used a cross-sectional and descriptive study design. All participants expressed agreement and readiness to provide genuine answers to the questions for the study. They collected the sociodemographic information of the study participants and the data about the experience of working with HIV/AIDS patients. The questionnaire included 20 questions designed to assess the knowledge about transmission, spread, and prevention of AIDS. Moreover, the experts used AIDS Attitude Scale to evaluate the attitude towards the ill patients. The research participants were asked to express their level of agreement with the statements concerning the position towards HIV/AIDS patients.
The study authors discussed an important topic, as HIV/AIDS patients’ rights are considerably violated in the healthcare field. The discrimination towards these patients shown by the nurses was attributed to the lack of knowledge regarding the transmission, spread, and prevention. The authors conducted a careful literature review, on which the survey questions were based. They considered every aspect that could cause concern for working with HIV/AIDS patients, such as homophobia, fear of being infected, and the effects of the knowledge on the perception of the patients. As a result, their quantitative study touched all the actual problems connected to the discriminative position expressed by the nurses.
The article effectively discussed the similarities and differences between the achieved results and those of studies around the world. This approach helped the authors to understand the significance of the obtained information and its possible application. The researchers admit that the probable reason for the obtained results could be the fact that HIV/AIDS patients rarely encountered in practice. To conclude, the literature review of the study was extremely detailed and practical for drawing relevant conclusions.
Notable results were noted in the results of this study, but there are limitations to these findings. Even though the sample size was acceptable, it did not include male students. This fact affected the quality of the achieved results and significantly declined the level of generalizability. With participants consisting only of one gender, it is difficult to generalize the results to the larger population of nursing students. Furthermore, the study was conducted in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara, which means that the results cannot apply to the greater area. While Kok et al. (2018) concluded that the results of the study could be used for making changes in the curriculum, they did not discuss the limitations (only mentioned what future research should work on). In conclusion, the authors should have used the more significant scope of the participants and tried to include both genders.
The research raises the topical problem but lacks the replicability of the results. The questionnaire was organized in the first semester of the 2013-2014 academic year, but the article was published only in 2018. The research results can become not actual for this period, as the social views change rapidly because of the Internet. Although Kok et al. (2018) believe their evaluation and conclusions can be relevant for the production of the educational programs for the nursing schools, they did not consider the possible change in the social perception of HIV/AIDS patients. Moreover, the nursing students could reconsider their point of view after they gain experience of working with patients and possibly understand the importance of the right patient care for the positive outcome of the treatment.
This article focused on an essential topic within the health care system, as HIV/AIDS patients have full legal and moral rights for adequate care in hospitals without discrimination and biased attitudes from the hospital officials. The research evaluated the collective mindset of the nursing students in Ankara and drew relevant conclusions about the efficacy of the nurse training program. Kok et al. (2018) shared the results indicating the importance of the reforms in education at nursing schools. However, the study did not adequately choose the sample and was restricted to a small area. Future research should include a more extensive and diverse sample, as well as accomplish a faster analysis of the results. In addition to this, the article should consider other factors like changing the social mindset.
Reference
Kok, G., Guvenc, G., & Kaplan, Z. (2018). Nursing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to care toward people with HIV/AIDS. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 11(3), 1697-1706.