Attitudes of Dental Students Towards HIV+ Patients: a Multi-center Survey Among Italian Universities (HIV DENT STUD)

March 17, 2026 updated by: Lajolo Carlo, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS
The purpose of this multicentric study was to assess the attitude of Italian dental students towards HIV-infected patients. In particular, the level of discomfort perceived during the treatment, any discriminatory attitude on their part, their level of knowledge of the disease and the application of the sterilization protocols to avoid professional exposure and cross-infections.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

480

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Italy
    • RM
      • Roma, RM, Italy, 00136
        • Policlinico Universitario Fondazione Agostino Gemelli - Roma
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Dental students belonging to almost all Italian Dental Schools from the North, Centre and South of Italy.

Description

Inclusion criteria

  • Completion of the survey
  • Dentistry students in Italy
  • Subjects aged ≥ 18 years

Exclusion criteria

  • No completion of the survey
  • Students of degree courses different from dentistry
  • Subjects aged ≤ 18 years

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Dental students
Dental students belonging to almost all Italian Dental Schools from the North, Centre and South of Italy
Other: Questionnaire

An anonymous questionnaire, accompanied by an informative letter, will be developed to this purpose, describing the aim of the study.

The questionnaire was structured into four sections.

The first section investigates personal demographic data. The second section evaluates the relationship between students and HIV-positive patients.

The third section evaluates the student's knowledge of the HIV infection and the source of his knowledge.

The fourth section investigates the application of the preventive operative protocols to avoid cross-infections

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Italian dental students with a discriminatory behavior towards HIV positive patients
Time Frame: Baseline
Students answering positively to the question "Do you think you have ever adopted a discriminatory behavior towards seropositive patients?", whenever asked to treat an HIV positive patient will be cathegorized as having a discriminatory behavior (Dichotomous variable)
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

February 22, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 22, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 22, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 22, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 17, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 17, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ID - 7757

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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