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11 Am. J. Police 65 (1992)
Law Enforcement and AIDS: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Fears in the Workplace

handle is hein.journals/ajpol11 and id is 151 raw text is: American Journal of Police Vol. 11, No. 2 1992 LAW ENFORCEMENT AND AIDS: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND FEARS IN THE WORKPLACE Douglas L. Yearwood Federal Bureau of Prisons The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become one of the nation's most important health issues since the disease was first recognized in 1981. The large number of reported and projected cases, the disease's poor prognosis, and the lack of any successfully proven vaccine, have all contributed to make AIDS a top medical pri- ority in the decade ahead. The disease has produced tremendous psychological and socio- logical implications for both persons with AIDS and members of the non-infected population. The focus of this research was to examine the psychosocial implications of the AIDS epidemic from the law en- forcement officer's perspective. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between an officer's knowledge of AIDS -and his or her attitudes, fears, and occupational performance. Despite the fact that knowledge of AIDS has improved (Becker & Joseph, 1988) it appears that many members of the general public are still not fully informed, and in some instances are fully misinformed, when it comes to the scientific facts on AIDS. Countless surveys ad- ministered throughout all segments of the American population have confirmed this fact (see Blendon & Donelan, 1988, for an extensive summary of these surveys). Despite the massive educational campaign mounted against AIDS, a large segment of the American public still remains in the dark as to the causes and transmission of AIDS. Blendon and Donelan (1988) reviewed 53 AIDS surveys administered between 1983 and 1988 and found that 25 percent of the American public believed that AIDS could be transmitted by coughing and

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