Staff Attitudes Towards Individuals With Learning Disabilities And Aids: The Role Of Attitudes Towards Client Sexuality And The Issue Of Mandatory Testing For HIV Infection

This study investigated staff attitudes towards individuals with learning disabilities and AIDS in combination with staff attitudes towards client sexuality. Two hundred and forty-six respondents (55% of those invited to participate) from one organisation in Scotland voluntarily and anonymously returned the nine-item Staff Attitudes Towards persons with Learning Disabilities and AIDS (LDAIDS) scale (Murray & Minnes, 1994b) and the Sexuality and Persons with Learning Disabilities Attitude Inventory (SPLDAI; Brantlinger, 1983; Murray & Minnes 1994a). Results indicated that staff held moderately positive attitudes towards individuals with a learning disability and AIDS. Regression analysis showed that while controlling for staff demographic and contact variables, attitudes towards client sexuality (SPLDAI) predicted 22% of the variance in scores of attitudes towards clients with learning disabilities and AIDS., Forty-four percent of participants employed in a direct residential care capacity agreed with mandatory testing of clients for HIV infection. The implications of these findings are discussed with relevance to issues raised by Cambridge (1994) who explored the informed consent/mandatory testing issue. Directions for future research and limitations of the study are also discussed.