The effect of education and empathic play made to nursing students on their attitudes towards hiv positive individuals

This study was conducted experimentally to determine the effect of education on nursing students and attitudes towards empathic games against HIV positive individuals. The universe of the study was created by the 920 students educated in Gaziantep University Health Sciences Faculty, Nursing Department during the 2016-2017 academic year. The sample of the research was divided into random (40) and control (40) groups by means of a random sample of 80 students. 10 girls and 10 boys from each class were randomly assigned to groups. For collecting research data, the Introductory Information Form and the AIDS Attitude Scale were used. Following the application of the form and scale as a pre-test to the students in the experimental and control groups, general information about HIV / AIDS and a visual presentation including the attitudes of the patient and their nurses prepared by the researchers were trained. Two weeks later, the scale was applied as an interim test to determine the effectiveness of the training and then the empathic game was played. Two weeks after the interim test, the scale was applied as a final test to determine the effect of empathic play. There was no statistically significant difference between pre- test comparisons of experimental and control groups in terms of the total scale and subscale scores (fear of contamination, negative feeling and professional resistance) (p> 0.05), while there was significant difference between groups in terms of final test (p< 0.05). In the repeated measures of the experimental group, It was determined that training decreased the mean of the total and sub-dimension scores of the scale significantly (p <0.05). The empathic game after the training decreased the AIDS Attitude Scale total and subscale scores significantly more than training (p <0.05). As a result; training and empathic play on nursing students have had a positive impact on attitudes towards HIV positive individuals. In line with these results; nursing students who candidates of nurse for the future and caring the HIV positive individuals should be taught HIV/AIDS and empatic play education for contributing positively to the psychological state of the patients.