Assessment of knowledge and attitude on antiretroviral therapy among nursing students

Abstract

Title: Assessment of knowledge and attitude on antiretroviral therapy among nursing students. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of final year nursing students at Kenyatta National Hospital. Specific Objectives were to establish the knowledge of nursing students on Anti-retroviral therapy and to determine the attitude of students towards patients who are on Anti-retroviral therapy Method: The study done at Kenyatta National hospital administered questionnaires to 150 students and 138 were found eligible. Data collected was analyzed using STATA. Results: The findings of the study showed that 39.8% of the nursing students had knowledge about Anti-Retroviral drugs; 42% of the students had some ideas while 18% of the students did not have adequate knowledge. Married and older students seemed to have better knowledge on ART compared to young and single Nurses significant at a P-value of 0.033. Attitude towards ART was positive from 34.8% of the students while 65.2% of the nursing students had not expressed their feeling. There was significant association between attitude and sex. Conclusion: This study confirmed lack of adequate knowledge on Antiretroviral therapy among newly qualified nursing students. The study recommended inclusion of HIV/AIDS based units in the basic training of nurses