Background: We examined Chinese health professionals' attitudes towards patients with AIDS vs patients with hepatitis B.
Methods: A representative sample of 1101 Chinese health professionals was used. Prejudicial attitudes and willingness to interact were measured based on two case vignettes.
Results: Statistical analyses revealed that health professionals had negative biases against acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients and reported much less willingness to interact with AIDS patients than hepatitis B patients. Perceived risk of infection at work was also negatively associated with willingness to interact with patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS, but relationships varied by profession.
Conclusions: This study underscores the importance of developing and implementing stigma reduction interventions in health care settings to address attitudinal biases and discrimination in clinical practice.