| Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) continues to be a source of concern for Health Care Professionals (HCP). The disease, caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), can be contracted occupationally through accidental needle stick injuries to the HCP. Health Care Professionals have expressed fear of HIV contagion, mistrust of the efficacy of universal precautions, and negative attitudes about injecting drug use and homosexuality (Dworkin, Albrecht, & Cooksey, 1991; Sandford & Winkleman, 1989; Shapiro, Hayward, Guillemot & Jayle, 1992; Smith, Goudeau, Katner, & Farmer, 1993). Other research shows that family members of HCP fear the involvement of their loved one with HIV patients and specimens. Most of the studies conducted on HCP's attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS have involved physicians, nurses, and other direct-care providers. Few investigations have involved Medical Technologists (MT), even though fact they handle hundreds of blood specimens each day, and they have the highest documented occupational exposure to HIV (CDC, 1993). This study focused on the Partner of the MT, and the partner's ability to provide support for the MT who daily comes in contact with the virus that causes AIDS.; A 60-item Partner of Medical Technologist AIDS Attitude Survey was sent to 400 Houston-area registered MTs randomly selected from a mailing list purchased from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP). The instructions required the registered MT to give the survey to his/her Partner for completion. The survey assessed HIV fear of contagion, trust of universal precautions, and attitudes towards homosexuality, injecting drug use, and support for the MT. A subset of the respondents (N = 4) to the written survey participated in a personal, semi-structured, open ended interview (Patten, 1990).; An intercorrelation matrix for the four independent variables and the dependent variable revealed statistically significant (.05) negative relationships between fear of contagion ({dollar}-{dollar}.596, p =.000), attitudes towards homosexuality ({dollar}-{dollar}.332, p =.000), and attitudes towards injecting drug use ({dollar}-{dollar}.462, p =.000) with the support for the MT. There was a statistically significant (.05) positive relationship between trust of universal precautions (.446, p =.002) and support for the MT.; The full-model multiple regression analysis revealed that fear of contagion and trust of universal precautions were significantly (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05) related to the support for the MT. The total variance accounted for were approximately 39%.; Case study analysis on the interview data yielded common themes of fear of contagion from needle-sticks, mistrust/lack of scientific data on HIV transmission, guarded pride/support for the MT, compassion for HIV-infected individuals, belief that factors in addition to AIDS cause workplace stress, and realization that AIDS is part of being a Health Care Professional. |
