The Effectiveness Of High Levels Of Knowledge Regarding Hiv/Aids In Reducing Discriminatory Attitudes And Behaviour Towards Hiv-Infected People

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to assess whether there is a relationship between increasing levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and perceptions of discriminatory attitudes and behaviour towards people with HIV/AIDS. Employees (3662) from a large accounting firm were exposed to a survey and a response rate of 41% or 1532 was received. The secondary objective of the study was to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences in the mean difference of knowledge scores of groups created in terms of the different biographical variables. ANOVA’S (to determine the significance of differences between the means), t-tests (two groups only) and F-statistics were used for the analysis. Given the large sample size an F-test is not conclusive and the effect of the difference in sample size needs to be taken into account. For this reason it was also necessary to look at the Partial Eta Squared. Results indicate that respondents are generally knowledgeable about the prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS and that respondents’ level of knowledge correlates negatively with discriminatory practices.