OBJETIVE: This paper presents results related to the psychometric properties of the Escala de atitudes frente a HIV/AIDS (Attitudes Towards HIV/AIDS Scale). METHODS: The data was derived from a sample with 549 high and elementary school level students. The data was treated by Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA). The final analysis resulted in 5 factors, given a minimal eigenvalue 2. Factor load items lower than 0.30 were excluded. In this study, the lowest alpha observed was 0.79. Therefore, it is likely that all 47 final tool items measure the same construct: attitude towards HIV/AIDS. RESULTS: Scores < 96 were considered "low knowledge amount on HIV/AIDS"; scores between 96 and 192 meant "moderate knowledge amount on HIV/AIDS", and scores > 192 were considered "high knowledge amount on HIV/AIDS". Factors 1, 2, and 3, i.e. "Technical/Scientific Information Perception General Factor"; "Technical/Scientific Information Perception Factor versus Sexuality and Prejudice"; "Technical/Scientific Information Perception Factor in Drug Abuse", respectively, were created. CONCLUSIONS: Cronbach’s alpha found for the scale as a whole was 0.859 and strongly suggests reliability of the tool, as it showed useful to evaluate the knowledge amount regarding HIV/AIDS and the risk resulting from lack of knowledge among students.
Scales; validation study; HIV; attitudes
