A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE REGARDING HOMOSEXUALITY AMONG NURSING STUDENTS STUDYING IN SELECTED COLLEGES OF AMRITSAR, PUNJAB

Abstract

Background: Human sexuality is a very complex behavior that is affected by many factors
such as physiological, cognition and learning. The phenomenon of homosexuality is nothing
new but homosexuals are still facing discrimination and stigma in our traditional taboos, they
go through many problems like in getting jobs, getting and giving education, receiving health
care services etc. Negative attitude regarding same sex attraction appears to be deeply
ingrained in majority of the nurses‟ mind as a socialization process. Lower sex knowledge was
related to negative attitude towards gay/lesbian/bisexual behavior, masturbation, premarital
sex and contraception.
Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude regarding homosexuality among nursing
students.
Methodology: Sample consisted of 200 nursing students from selected colleges of, Amritsar,
Punjab. Convenient sampling technique was followed to select the sample. Knowledge of
nursing students was assessed by Homosexuality Questionnaire and attitude was measured by
Homosexuality attitude scale. The study was conducted in the month of January, 2013.
Results: Study findings revealed that 86.5% of students had average knowledge, 10% had
good knowledge and merely 3.5% students had poor knowledge regarding homosexuality but
on the other hand majority of study subjects (65.5%) had negative attitude towards
homosexuality while remaining 34.5% had positive attitude. Karl Pearson‟s coefficient of
correlation was applied to find the correlation between knowledge and attitude which depicted
weak positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (r=+0.204). ANOVA and „Z‟ test
were applied to assess the relationship of knowledge and attitude regarding homosexuality
among nursing with socio demographic variables such as age, gender, religion, marital status,
place of residence, current living area and source of information. While source of information
showed significant relationship with both knowledge and attitude regarding homosexuality.