Instrument details

announcement
Instrument Title

Attitudes toward women with HIV/AIDS scale - ATWAS

View PDF - ATWAS_ O'Hea.pdf

Source Article

O'Hea, E. L., Sytsma, S. E., Copeland, A., & Brantley, P. J. (2001). The attitudes toward women with HIV/AIDS scale (ATWAS): Development and validation. AIDS Education and Prevention, 13(2), 120-130.

Response Options

1-5 (5-point Likert-style rating system, with lower scores suggesting more negative attitudes towards women with HIV/AIDS and higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward women with HIV/AIDS)

Survey Items

Factor 1(Child Care)

  1. Women who transmit HIV to their unborn baby should have their baby taken away.
  2. Women with HIV/AIDS are not in control of their own lives, therefore they are unfit to be in charge of anyone else.
  3. Women with HIV/AIDS are unfit mothers.
  4. I think women who give birth to babies who are HIV+ should be prosecuted for child abuse.
  5. Women with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to make decisions about caring for their children.
  6. If a woman with HIV/AIDS gives birth to an HIV- child, she should be able to raise that child.
  7. Women with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to have children.
  8. Young children should be removed from the home if their mother has HIV/AIDS.
  9. Pregnant women with HIV/AIDS should be forced to have an abortion.
  10. Women with HIV/AIDS are failures because they cannot live up to the traditional roles of the woman as mother and caregiver.
  11. Women with HIV/AIDS should be sterilized (or have their tubes tied) so they cannot have children.


    Factor 2 (Myths/Negative Stereotypes)

  12. Most women with HIV/AIDS are injection drug users.
  13. Most women with HIV/AIDS are prostitutes or sex workers.
  14. Most women with HIV/AIDS sell their bodies for drugs.
  15. Most women with HIV/AIDS have been infected by their heterosexual partner who is an injection drug user.
  16. Most women with HIV/AIDS are lesbians.
  17. Most women with HIV/AIDS have slept around a lot.


    Factor 3 (Reproduction/Contraception Issues)

  18. Pregnant women with HIV/AIDS should be forced to have their baby tested for HIV.
  19. Pregnant women with HIV/AIDS should be forced to take medication (AZT) to reduce the chance that their babies will have HIV.
  20. I think women with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to breast-feed their baby, even if it puts the baby at risk of getting HIV.
  21. Women with HIV/AIDS should volunteer to have their baby tested for HIV.
  22. A woman owes it to her husband to have unprotected sex with him even if he has HIV/AIDS.
  23. It is OK for a man with HIV/AIDS to refuse to wear a condom if he pays the woman’s bills.



    Factor 4 (Sympathy/Transmission Route)

  24. I feel more sympathetic toward women who get HIV/AIDS from blood transfusions than those who get it from injection drug use.
  25. I feel more sympathetic toward women who get HIV/AIDS from blood transfusions than those who get it from sexual intercourse.
  26. I feel more sympathetic toward women who get HIV/AIDS from being raped than through being sexually promiscuous.
  27. I have little sympathy for women who get HIV/AIDS from sexual promiscuity (sleeping around).

Internal Reliability

Cronbach's alpha = .82 overall, .71-.84 among subscales

Validity

Construct validity

Google Scholar

View article on Google Scholar

Terms Of Use

Individuals may use this information for research or educational purposes only and may not use this information for commercial purposes. When using this instrument, please cite:

O'Hea, E. L., Sytsma, S. E., Copeland, A., & Brantley, P. J. (2001). The attitudes toward women with HIV/AIDS scale (ATWAS): Development and validation. AIDS Education and Prevention, 13(2), 120-130.

When presenting results using any survey information you obtained from the SABI, please acknowledge the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), an NIH funded program P30 AI50410.