Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Health Promotion and Health Education

Major Professor

James J. Neutens

Committee Members

Bill Wallace, Edward T. Howley, Bet F. Thompson

Abstract

This study was designed to assess, analyze and compare attitudes of superintendents in Tennessee public school systems regarding persons with AIDS (PWAs) in the public school setting. Specifically, the objectives were:

1. to examine the attitudes of Tennessee superintendents toward persons with AIDS in the school setting;

2. to ascertain the differences in attitudes of Tennessee superintendents toward persons with AIDS in a school setting based on demographic variables;

3. to examine the differences in attitudes toward persons with AIDS between superintendents of school systems that had established AIDS education programs and superintendents of school systems that had not established AIDS education programs;

4. to investigate the differences in attitudes toward persons with AIDS between superintendents of Tennessee school systems that had definite plans to establish AIDS education programs and superintendents of school districts that did not have definite plans to establish AIDS education programs;

5. to ascertain the differences in attitudes toward persons with AIDS between superintendents of school districts that had developed school AIDS policies that were congruent with the Tennessee state guidelines and superintendents of school districts that had developed school AIDS policies iii that were not congruent with state guidelines; and,

6. to examine the differences in attitudes toward persons with AIDS between superintendents who perceived community support for their districts' AIDS policies and superintendents who did not perceive community support for their districts' AIDS policies.

The participants in this study were from a population of superintendents of all the school systems in the state of Tennessee listed in the Tennessee Directory of Public Schools, 1988. From a total of 147 superintendents listed in the directory, 108 responses were received and 102 respondents were included in the study after invalidating the incomplete responses.

The instrument used in this study was adopted from the School Professionals' Attitude Toward AIDS Instrument developed by Neutens and pilot tested at the University of Tennessee in the summer of 1989. The questionnaire packets, with accompanying cover letters from the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment and the researcher himself, were mailed to the superintendents in the fall of 1989.

The questionnaires were tallied, scored and computer-analyzed. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and Scheffe's tests were employed to address the research questions defined by the study.

The data indicated that Tennessee superintendents had strong feelings and attitudes toward persons with AIDS in the school setting. The attitudes of Tennessee superintendents toward PWAs were preponderantly favorable. However, among the superintendents, there were considerable negative attitudes toward PWAs that were at variance with the attitudes embodied by the state guidelines for school AIDS policies in Tennessee schools.

There were no differences in attitudes toward PWAs among Tennessee superintendents on the basis of sex, age, religion, ethnicity, region or school culture. Attitudes toward PWAs did not appear to differ among Tennessee superintendents on the basis of a school district having developed school AIDS policy congruent or incongruent with state issued guidelines for school AIDS policy and a school district having definite plans for AIDS education or not. However, differences in attitudes toward PWAs were found among Tennessee superintendents on the basis of whether the school district that each of them supervised had or did not have an established AIDS education programs and also on the basis of whether the superintendents perceived community support for their individual school district's school AIDS policy.

Based upon findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:

1. The official attitudes of the educational and public health, professional institutions of this nation with regard to Persons With AIDS could not as yet be considered as unanimously espoused by or even firmly established among superintendents in the state of Tennessee.

2. On the basis of the findings of this study, many Tennessee superintendents did not agree with the Tennessee state guidelines for AIDS issues in the school setting.

3. In terms of attitudes toward PWAs, demographic variables such as sex, age, religion, ethnicity, region, and school culture had little or no influence on Tennessee school superintendents.

4. With regard to attitudes toward PWAs, existing professional workshops on AIDS for Tennessee school superintendents did not appear to have noticeable impact.

5. The disparities that exist in school AIDS policy between school districts and state levels could not be accounted for on the basis of the district level administrators' attitudes toward PWAs.

6. In light of the findings in this study, attitudes of superintendents toward AIDS/PWAs could be a possible contributing factor toward lack of established AIDS programs in Tennessee schools.

7. Insofar as attitudes toward PWAs were concerned, the results of this study indicated that the values and attitudes of the Tennessee superintendents were strongly associated with the values and attitudes of the official community and the constituent community.

To the policy makers, suggestions were made to:

1. make efforts toward minimizing the disparities between official policy on AIDS related issues and personal attitudes among designated implementers of the same policies; and

2. be cognizant of possible attitudinal disparities within its own ranks on the part of state-wide AIDS education programs and to develop strategies to address the problem.

To researchers, the following were recommended:

1. replication of this study with other populations within the educational community to identify disparities between the state's official position on PWAs and the personal attitudes toward PWAs among various educational professionals who will be implementing the official policies at different levels.;

2. in depth evaluation of existing educational programs on AIDS for education and other professionals;

3. studies to investigate more effective educational strategies to mitigate adverse attitudes and fallacies regarding PWAs; and

4. efforts be made to identify other possible factors that either impede or enable educational efforts directed at prevention of AIDS and protection of PWAs.

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