1. Dutch Dental Students HIV- related attitudes, knowledge & source of information AH. Neshat, K. Divaris, R.C. Gorter, PhD An EDSA project…

2. Epidemiological data December 2004 Number of individuals infected with HIV/AIDS Total 39.4 million (35.9 – 44.3 million) Adults37.2 million (33.8 – 41.7 million) Children (<15) 2.2 million (2.0 – 2.6 million) New HIV-infections during 2003 Total4.9 million (4.3 – 6.4 million) Adults4.3 million (3.7 – 5.7 million) Children (<15 y.o.) 640 000 (570 000 – 750 000) AIDS-related deaths during 2003 Total 3.1 million (2.8 – 3.5 million) Adults2.6 million (2.3 – 2.9 million) Children (<15) 510 000 (460 000 – 600 000)

3. Adults and children estimated to be living with HIV as of end 2004 Total: 39.4 (35.9 – 44.3) million Western & Central Europe 610 000 [480 000 – 760 000] North Africa & Middle East 540 000 [230 000 – 1.5 million] Sub-Saharan Africa 25.4 million [23.4 – 28.4 million] Eastern Europe & Central Asia 1.4 million [920 000 – 2.1 million] South & South-East Asia 7.1 million [4.4 – 10.6 million] Oceania 35 000 [25 000 – 48 000] North America 1.0 million [540 000 – 1.6 million] Caribbean 440 000 [270 000 – 780 000] Latin America 1.7 million [1.3 – 2.2 million] East Asia 1.1 million [560 000 – 1.8 million] 50% 40% Stabilizing

4. AIDS & Dentistry I.The dentist must be capable of recognizing, documenting & treating oral lesions related to the HIV/AIDS. II.Has the responsibility of referring patients presenting signs & symptoms linked to the HIV infection for further trials. III.Contemporary curricula must entail theoretical and practical training of dental students in treating HIV-related oral lesions. Source: FDI Statement; General Assembly 2003

5. Aim To study Dutch Dental students’ HIV/AIDS related attitudes, knowledge, practices and sources of information To investigate possible associations with ‘gender’ and ‘study year’ with the above

6. Methods Anonymous questionnaire of 56 closed-end questions (yes/no, 4-point Likert scale) Distributed to all clinical-year present in three University clinics, in Amsterdam, The Hague and Almere Dental School, in December 2003 Data analysis Chi 2 and Wilcoxon tests were performed.

7. Almere Amsterdam The Hague Clinic Locations

8. Results Response 118 questionnaires were returned and analyzed NResponse 3 th year3217% 4 th year5228% 5 th year3418% Total118 63% Sample description The sample was consisted of 63 (53.39%) female and 55 (46.61%) male students.

9. Supposed routes of transmission of the HIV virus, according to ACTA students Results

10. Results Lectures/Seminars & Textbooks Primary Sources

11. Results TV & School

12. Have you ever been injured by a sharp/bloody instrument during your clinical training? Do you believe that the practice of Dentistry entails a high risk of an HIV- infection? Do you think that you follow all necessary infection control measures in the clinics? p<10 -3 Χ 2 test: p<10 -3Results 27,12% 21% 8 7, 1 8 %

13. Do you consider yourself competent at contributing to an early diagnosis of an HIV-infection? p<10 -3 χ 2 test: p<10 -3 Do you accept the right of privacy of an HIV+ patient not revealing his situation to you? Do you believe that if a dentist is diagnosed as HIV+, they should continue normal practice? p<10 -3 χ 2 : test: p<10 -3 If yes, do you believe that it’s their patients’ right to know about his seropositivity? Results 73,28 % NO 83.90% NO 70,59 % YES 80,43 % YES

14. I consider my knowledge of the oral manifestati ons of the HIV-infection and their treatment as: p<10 -3 Wilcoxon test: p<10 -3 Results 56 % Insufficient/Non-existent

15. I consider my knowledge of the infection control measures necessary in the clinics as: Results 63 % Sufficient/ Excellent

16. p<0.05 Wilcoxon test: p<0.05 Results 7 4 %

17. 64% of the students answered that they treat all patients as potential carriers of HIV/HBV. 29% of the 5th year students stated that they have been injured by a sharp and/or bloody instrument during their clinical training. 27% of the respondents considered that the practice of dentistry entails high risk of being infected with HIV.

18. Conclusions No significant variations with regard to ‘gender’ and ‘study year’ were observed Results indicate that the majority of the students retain a positive standpoint towards treating HIV patients More emphasis on certain domains of dental education such as theoretical knowledge of HIV/AIDS oral manifestations and practical training on infection control procedures, may improve dental students’ and thus future dentists’ attitudes and practices towards seropositive patients

19. Discussion Cross-sectional Time of conduction Generalizability of conclusions Native Language

20. Questions & Suggestions Houman Neshat H ouman@ N eshat.net http://www.neshat.net …Thank you for your Attention…. www.EDSA-net.org