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HIV Counseling & Testing |
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Meade and Sikkema point out that, "[a]mong this sample of psychiatric outpatients, HIV testing was common and comparable to other 'at-risk' groups. However, nearly half of participants who engaged in recent HIV risk behavior were not tested within the past year" (p. 470), underscoring "the importance of targeting adults with SMI for HIV prevention, including routine HIV testing and behavioral risk reduction. Given the multiple psychiatric, medical, and psychosocial needs of persons with SMI, HIV prevention interventions should be integrated into existing services. Mental health professionals are in an ideal position to assess HIV risk, encourage HIV testing, promote risk reduction, and ultimately improve the health of ... [persons] living with SMI" (p. 471). What is the impact of repeatedly testing HIV-negative? Canadian investigators (Ryder et al., 2005) interviewed 64 adults who had received more than two HIV-negative test results or had received an HIV-positive test result following the receipt of more than two HIV-negative test results. The sample was urban and composed predominantly of educated white gay men. Analysis revealed that "[r]epeat HIV-negative testing frequently results in confusion as to what constitutes risk and occasionally to thoughts of HIV immunity. Narrative accounts include[d] beliefs that monogamy constitutes safety from HIV, that psychosocial factors other than repeatedly testing negative [e.g., depression, substance use] lead ... to risk, and that sexual risk reduction is unsustainable" (p. 459). Ryder and colleagues contend that "the repeat negative test experience for some neither clarifies risk behavior nor reinforces sustained risk reduction" and that "repeat negative testers require assistance beyond the post-test experience in order to address continued risk behavior" (p. 463). In the view of these investigators, "[t]he HIV test counseling session could be more effective at curbing sexual risk behavior if the tester's perceptions of safety in [assumed] monogamy and HIV immunity were elicited and dealt with in the HIV test counseling session" (p. 463).
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Spring 2006 Newsletter / Volume 7, Issue 3 
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