KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF HIV COUNSELLORS IN HIV COUNSELLING AND TESTING IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

This study employed the descriptive survey to assess the knowledge,

attitude and practices of HIV counsellors in HIV counselling and testing in the

Central Region of Ghana. In all, 140 HIV counsellors from the Central Region

were sampled through the use of the purposive sampling procedure. The

convenient sampling procedure was adopted to carry out the observation

sections. Questionnaires and observation guide were used to collect the

necessary data for the study. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and

percentages were used to illustrate the demographic profile of the participants

and the data on five of the research questions. The thematic approach was used

to analyse the qualitative data. Inferential statistics namely Pearson Product

Moment Correlation were used to compare relationship among variables.

It was found out that HIV counsellors in the Central Region had a good

knowledge on HIV counselling and testing, counsellors have developed a

positive attitude towards HIV counselling and testing, the HIV counsellors

adhered to good practices in their field of work, to a large extent, most of the

respondents adhered to the basic techniques in counselling among others.

It was recommended that periodic seminars and workshops must be

organised for HIV counsellors, professional counsellors should be employed to

solve the problem of shortage of staff. Also, test kits should always be made

available at the health facilities at all times and finally, transportation and

financial support should be available by the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health

Service and National AIDS Control Programme to aid follow ups.