Objective: To compose both a multiple choice test (MCT) to evaluate primary care professionals' understanding of HIV infection and a scale to measure their attitudes towards it.
Design: Validation of questionnaires.
Setting: Ciutat Vella health district (City of Barcelona) and university teaching hospitals in Barcelona.
Participants: 11 residents specialising in contagious disease, 12 residents from other specialties, 32 general practitioners and 34 nurses from primary care, and 64 sixth-year medical students.
Interventions: A self-filled, anonymous questionnaire, completed under supervision.
Measurements and main results: All subjects answered a MCT with 21 questions of 4 reply options about their understanding of HIV infection, as well as a Likert-type 5-point attitudes scale containing 10 items. One question on the MCT was eliminated because of Lack of discrimination. The test of understanding gave the PC professionals sufficient guarantees of reliability and validity.
Conclusions: A useful questionnaire for assessing PC professionals' understanding and attitudes towards HIV infection has been gained.