Personal and social determinants of rural nurses' willingness to care for persons with AIDS.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the individual and social determinants of rural nurses' willingness to care for people with AIDS (PWAs). Willingness to care was viewed as a function of nurses' personal attitudes about AIDS care and PWAs; the influence of normative (significant others), comparative (the nursing profession), and generalized (the rural community) reference group norms on these attitudes; and how much importance respondents placed on membership in these reference groups. Responses to a mailed questionnaire from 615 rural nurses were analyzed. Individual determinants were nurses' feelings of preparedness and favorable attitudes about their personal safety when administering care. Social determinants were the degree of upset of respondents' significant others about their caring for AIDS patients and favorable attitudes of the respondents about professional and social concerns related to AIDS. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.