Knowledge and Attitudes of Nursing Technical Secondary Schools’ Students toward Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Aids) in El-Mansoura City

Background: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has become one of the most important public health problems in recent times, and a serious health issue all over the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, which continues to grow. Aim: aim of study: the present study aimed to assess Knowledge and Attitudes of Nursing Technical Secondary Schools’Students toward Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in EL-Mansoura city.Subject and Methods :A descriptive research design was utilized to conduct this study. The study Sample wascarried on 255 students in the technical secondary schools of nursing in EL-Mansoura city. The data were collected using two tools: first tool was Structured Questionnaire Sheet which was composed of two parts: part one was Socio- demographic data sheet, part two was nursing students’ Knowledge assessment and the 2^nd tool was Attitudes Scale. Results: of this study showed that, nursing students’ knowledge level was satisfied (i.e. ≥60%) in 62.0% of them. The majority of the studied nursing students had positive attitudes (i.e. 60 - 100%) toward HIV/AIDS patients in 96.1% of them. An inverse correlation was observed between level of knowledge and attitude of the studied nursing students.Conclusion: The conclusion of this studywas more than half of the nursing students had satisfied knowledge and the majority of them had positive attitudes toward HIV/AIDS.Recommendtions : The study recommendedthat updating knowledge of nursing students toward HIV/AIDS through talks/discussion organized by nursing schools and participation of nursing schools’ students in national campaigns for HIV/AIDS awareness. To improve nursing students’ willingness to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, particular emphasis should be placed on the training of nursing students as skilled nursing staff with positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS.