HIV AND AIDS: A SURVEY AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS.

Results: generally attitudes about

1568 high risk category for cross contamination. 7 Cross-infection, from an infected patient to the dentist and further from the dentists to other patients may also be seen. 8 The aim of the study was to review the knowledge and attitude of dental students which helps in understanding their preparedness for treating HIV/AIDS patients. This also helps to understand if any modifications need to be integrated into the curriculum to instil positive attitudes in dental students. We compared the differences in HIV/AIDS related knowledge and attitude between the genders and years of study.

Method:-
Subjects: The present cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among the First, Second, Third and Final year bachelor students majoring in Dentistry. A total of 100 students participated in the study, 25 students from each year. The participation of the students was voluntary. This survey was aimed to investigate and evaluate their knowledge and attitudes toward the patients suffering from HIV infection/AIDS. Exclusion criteria included students who were not willing to participate and those who were absent on the day of study.
Data collection: A self-made questionnaire was used for the present study. The first part of the questionnaire was used to collect information on gender and year of study while the later part consisted of 25 questions related to the knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. The Questionnaire is give at the end.
Survey Questionnaire: The first ten questions were related to knowledge of HIV infection, transmission patterns, and opinions about adequacy of their own knowledge. The answer for knowledge questions was either ''agree" or ''disagree." A score of 1 was given for correct answer and a zero for the wrong. Hence, a student's total score ranged from 0 to 10. In the later part of the questionnaire, fifteen questions addressed attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients, attitudes in treating HIV/AIDS positive patients and ability in treating HIV/AIDS patients. The answer to each question about attitudes was rated on a five-point Likert scale: Strongly agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral, Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). For positive attitudes, a score of 5 was given to the response 'strongly agree' and a score of 1 was given to ''strongly disagree" while a score of 5 was given to the response 'strongly disagree' and a score of 1 was given to ''strongly agree" for the negative attitudes. Thus the total score for attitudes ranged from 15 to 75.

Results and discussion:-
Overall knowledge and awareness on HIV/AIDS among study subjects ranged from 68 % to 95%. About 94% knew ELISA is a screening test, suggesting good knowledge about diagnostics. However the figures are on higher side when compared to study done by Reshma et al, and Sadeghi et al. 9 76% of students agreed that HIV/AIDS patients can be suspected from oral manifestations, which is lower in comparison to similar study done by Sadeghi et al, where the response was 95.2%. 9 95% of students said that transmission of HIV can occur through needle stick injury which are slightly on lower side when compared to studies conducted by Patil et al and Awad et al. 10,11 About AIDS as an important health problem in the world 94% responded correctly which was higher in comparing to study conducted by Deepak et al, and Awad et al. 11,12 Aerosols from hand pieces as a vehicle for transmission of HIV infection was stated by 66%, as compared to a study conducted by Awad et al, where the response rate 48.8%. 11 Around 89% answered correctly the question on spread of HIV by touching, kissing, sharing food and drinks. Whether saliva can be a vehicle for transmission of HIV infection, 53.8% responded correctly, which is similar to a study done by Abhimanyu et al. 13 This could be attributed to the difference of opinion and information in literature on the transmissibility of HIV via salivary route. Transmission of HIV from saliva is considered to be a rare event as the saliva in infected patients usually contains only non-infectious constituents of HIV (Baron et al., 1999). 3 Though these attitude scores are encouraging, there are dental students who still have fear of HIV contagion and AIDS phobia from their friends and colleagues.
Also, 95% strongly agreed/agreed (SA/A) that it was their moral responsibility to treat HIV/AIDS patients and risk of HIV contagion is high, hence special precautions have to be followed to treat them. 76% SA/A to deliver emergency care; 94% considered their right know the HIV status of their patients; 89% said that they will treat them; 84%said that HIV patients can lead a normal life; 73% felt that HIV patients can be safely treated. 90% strongly disagreed/disagreed (SD/D) that if friend has HIV, will end relationship; 91% SD/D to stop working with a colleague with HIV infection. 94% SD/D with treating HIV is waste of resources; 60% SD/D that dentists with 1569 HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to practice. 90% of students showed a positive attitude against 10% with negative attitude.
Male students reported significantly better attitudes towards HIV/AIDS patients than female students; this is in contrast with a study that was conducted in US (Seacat and Inglehart, 2003). 3 The results also showed that students' knowledge and attitudes on HIV/AIDS increased as the year of study progressed.