mental health AIDS

Winter 2005 Newsletter / Volume 6, Issue 2

HIV Assessment News

HIV Counseling & Testing

From a survey involving 558 community-recruited, active IDUs, Tobin, Tang, Gilbert, and Latkin (2004) report that "factors independently associated with having been tested recently [(i.e., within the preceding 12-month period)] tended to reflect the strong influence of external factors such as being incarcerated, and resources such as having interactions with an HIV prevention outreach worker or having a case manager" (p. 307). Additionally, recent testing of an IDU's main sex partner was positively associated with having received recent HIV testing. Tobin and colleagues conclude that "[s]upport of programs that are designed to serve hard-to-reach populations and target couples may be effective in increasing HIV testing among active IDUs" (p. 303).

In an exploratory study, Bonney, Crosby, and Odenat (2004) interviewed a convenience sample of 143 low-income, largely African-American women with a history of HIV testing and found that "perceived barriers and supportive factors play equally important roles in women's intent to be repeat tested for HIV" (p. 333).

Frequently perceived barriers included perceptions that repeat testing was unnecessary, either based on: 1) having only one sex partner since the last test (38.1% of responders); 2) obtaining a negative test result in the past year (36.7%); 3) worry about coping with a positive diagnosis (30.7%); 4) a belief that "guys I have sex with always use condoms" (27.5%); or 5) a belief that treatment may not be affordable (25.2%). ... A broad range of supportive factors were endorsed, including: 1) testing is part of self-care (85.8%); 2) knowing to avoid sex if HIV-positive (85.8%); 3) test results are reliable and important (84.7%); 4) early diagnosis can improve odds of staying healthy (83.0%); and 5) coping with a positive test result, and paying for treatment, would be manageable (78.6% and 78.2%, respectively). (p. 330)

The authors suggest that "favorable decisional balance may be achieved by helping women overcome key barriers to repeat testing, while also making multiple factors supporting repeat testing more salient to women" (p. 333).

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