J Nurs Educ
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Few investigators have studied nurses' or nursing students' responses to caring for AIDS patients. The purpose of this exploratory study was to test the Ajzen-Fishbein (1980) Theory of Reasoned Action in a student nurse population about AIDS patient care. This theory offers an approach to explaining individuals' intentions to engage in certain behaviors as determined by two components: attitudes toward the behavior and subjective norms. ⋯ Consistent with the theory, students' attitudes and subjective norms were found to be significant predictors of intentions to care for AIDS patients in their clinical experience (R2 = .29, F[1, 43] = 6.63, p less than .003). In addition, qualitative data resembled those in previous reports of fear of contagion among health professionals. The effects of the instructional unit about caring for AIDS patients resulted in significant changes in both attitudes and subjective norms.