The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between prejudice towards AIDS, fear of contagion and level of knowledge, and nurses' attitudes toward AIDS. Additional analyses were carried out to determine if a relationship exists between attitudes toward AIDS and age, sex, marital status, area and position of employment, educational background and length of work experience of the nurses involved in the study. A sample of 99 nurses out of 200 randomly selected from a pool of New York State Nurses1 Association members responded to the invitation to participate in the study. The instrument, The Questionnaire to Identify Nurses Attitudes Towards AIDS, was developed by the investigator. It was designed to address demographic information of the respondents, his/her actual experience in caring for AIDS patients, as well as, measure respondents knowledge of AIDS, level of concern when dealing with patients with the disease, and attitude of nurses toward groups at risk for developing AIDS. Each participant's instrument had an overall mean attitude score on all 20 items computed, as well as a mean score for the ten items related to knowledge of AIDS and the ten items related to attitude toward AIDS patients, homosexuals, and IV drug users. Analysis of Variance was used to determine any variation of nurses' attitude scores among the variables studied. It is clear from this study that nurses' attitudes toward AIDS are more positive than negative. The theoretical position that nurses prejudice against the social groups at risk for developing AIDS is related to a more negative attitude toward caring for patients with AIDS was not supported by this investigation. Based on this finding, two conclusions were drawn. First, nurses' desire to uphold the ethical standards of the profession is stronger than their prejudicial attitude toward homosexuals and intravenous drug users. Second, nurses increased contact with these groups and the availability of professional literature and workshops on drug abuse and homosexuality may help to dispel false stereotypes and therefore decrease the degree of prejudice felt by nurses. It is also evident from this investigation that certain variables can affect nurses' attitude toward AIDS. Fear of contagion has been shown to cause nurses' attitudes to become more negative, while knowledge and understanding about AIDS has been shown to cause nurses' attitudes to become more positive. No significant statistical relationship was found between nurses attitude and the following demographic variables: age, sex, marital status, current education, area of employment, position held, number of years of nursing experience and number of AIDS patients cared for. There was a significant relationship between the type of programs the participants graduated from and their attitude toward AIDS. There was also a significant relationship between nurses who refused to care for AIDS patients and their attitude toward AIDS.