Abstract

TOLEDO DE LUCENA, Nayara et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of dentistry students regarding HIV-positive patients. RFO UPF [online]. 2016, vol.21, n.3, pp. 388-394. ISSN 1413-4012.

Objectives: to assess social and demographic profile, knowledge, attitudes, and practices of 176 undergraduate and graduate students of the School of Dentistry of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil. Subjects and methods: a cross-sectional study was performed with the application of the online Qualtrics questionnaire. Results: seventy-six percent of students from the sample were single women aged 28 years and 6 months in average. Eighty percent of them associated the high frequency of oral candidiasis to the immunosuppression caused by the virus, 70% linked linear gingival erythema and hairy leukoplakia to said disease, and 53% of respondents was aware of the potential for xerostomia, hyposialia, and volume increase of the large salivary glands. About 90% of participants treated all patients as potentially infected and were concerned with the professional risk for HIV. Seventy percent of the sample believed it would be impossible to refuse assistance for seropositive patients. Conclusion: the results showed multiple information on capacity and expectation of undergraduate and graduate students (either from PUCRS or not), portraying the professional profile in formation at different universities, which will be offered to care for patients with this disease.

Keywords : AIDS; Health knowledge, attitudes, and practice; Dentistry students; HIV.