Development and Validation of Caring Based HIV Counseling Training Program for Nurses: A Delphi Methodology

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remains a growing public health concern in the Philippines, where new infections rose by about 550% between 2010 and 2024 and diagnosis gaps persist in CALABARZON. Nurses are often the first and most sustained point of contact in HIV testing and care, yet knowledge gaps, stigmatizing attitudes, and procedure-focused training may limit their ability to provide compassionate, person-centered counseling. This study aims to develop and validate a Caring-Based HIV Counseling Training Program for Nurses in Laguna, Philippines, using a methodological research design and a modified Delphi technique. Registered nurses from selected government and private healthcare facilities in Laguna will complete a researcher-developed training-needs assessment questionnaire covering six competency domains: HIV-related knowledge; counseling and therapeutic communication; caring behaviors and person-centered practice; ethical and legal responsibilities; cultural sensitivity and stigma reduction; and linkage to prevention, treatment, care, and support. The questionnaire will undergo expert review, pilot testing, and reliability testing using Cronbach’s alpha. The needs-assessment findings, together with a review of current literature and guidelines, will inform a preliminary training program, which a multidisciplinary panel of approximately 15 to 20 experts will evaluate over successive anonymous Delphi rounds for relevance, clarity, comprehensiveness, cultural appropriateness, feasibility, and applicability. Consensus is defined in advance as at least 80% expert agreement, a median rating of at least 3.00, and an interquartile range of no more than 1.00. Content validity will be established through an Item-Level Content Validity Index of at least .78 and a Scale-Level Content Validity Index (average) of at least .90, overall agreement will be measured with Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, and the experts’ qualitative comments will undergo directed content analysis. The study is expected to produce an expert-validated, contextually relevant training program that strengthens nurses’ capacity to deliver compassionate, stigma-free HIV counseling, with its effectiveness to be tested in a future pilot or quasi-experimental study.