• Lynda A Tyer-Viola and Mary E Duffy.
• Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, Boston, MA, USA. ltyerviola@partners.org
• J Adv Nurs. 2010 Aug 1;66(8):1852-63.

AimThis paper is a report of the development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Pregnant Women with HIV Attitude Scale.BackgroundPrevious research has identified that attitudes toward persons with HIV/AIDS have been judgmental and could affect clinical care and outcomes. Stigma towards persons with HIV has persisted as a barrier to nursing care globally. Women are more vulnerable during pregnancy. An instrument to specifically measure obstetric care provider's attitudes toward this population is needed to target identified gaps in providing respectful care.MethodsExisting literature and instruments were analysed and two existing measures, the Attitudes about People with HIV Scale and the Attitudes toward Women with HIV Scale, were combined to create an initial item pool to address attitudes toward HIV-positive pregnant women. The data were collected in 2003 with obstetric nurses attending a national conference in the United States of America (N = 210). Content validity was used for item pool development and principal component analysis and analysis of variance were used to determine construct validity. Reliability was analysed using Cronbach's Alpha.ResultsThe new measure demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha estimates = 0.89). Principal component analysis yielded a two-component structure that accounted for 45% of the total variance: Mothering-Choice (alpha estimates = 0.89) and Sympathy-Rights (alpha estimates = 0.72).ConclusionThese data provided initial evidence of the psychometric properties of the Pregnant Women with HIV Attitude Scale. Further analysis is required of the validity of the constructs of this scale and its reliability with various obstetric care providers.

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