contact with individuals who have HIV/AIDS

Canadians exhibit somewhat less tolerance or acceptance when asked to rate their level of comfort with direct contact with individuals who have HIV/AIDS. Most Canadians (over 70 per cent) would be somewhat or very comfortable working in an office where someone developed HIV/AIDS. The level of comfort is the same regardless of whether the co-worker is male or female. A similar proportion would feel somewhat or very comfortable shopping at a small neighbourhood grocery store if they found out that the owner had HIV/AIDS, however 31 per cent would be uncomfortable. The proportion who are somewhat to very comfortable drops, however, to just over half the population (55 per cent) if their child was attending a school where one of the students was known to have HIV/AIDS, and 43 per cent would be uncomfortable in this situation. Furthermore, in a more risky scenario, less than half of Canadians would feel somewhat or very comfortable if a close friend or relative was dating someone with HIV/AIDS. It would appear, therefore, that the comfort level declines as the contact becomes more direct and personal.

Findings from these six scenarios were used to form the basis of a "comfort scale", using factor analysis. This scale is used in the creation of the typology (see chapter 8), and also as another independent variable in the analyses of the findings to be presented throughout the remainder of the report. The index ranges in scores from zero to four. When these six scenarios are combined into a "comfort scale", close to one in four (24 per cent) Canadians demonstrate a low level of comfort with HIV/AIDS (comfortable in only one or two of these six scenarios), 41 per cent demonstrate a moderate level of comfort (comfortable in two or three scenarios), and 35 per cent have a high level of comfort (comfortable in more than three of the six scenarios).