 HIVAIDS
currently affects approximately one million Americans. It
is estimated that only two-thirds of those infected are aware
of their HIV status. HIVAIDS has also disproportionately affected
minorities, specifically African-Americans in the Northeast
and the Southern parts of the United States. Although primary
care providers eventually manage the majority of people who
are HIV infected, there is little data on acceptance of routine
HIV testing among primary care practices and the barriers
to HIV testing specifically related to the primary care practices.
In the present proposal, the Principal Investigator will
investigate the acceptability of routine HIV testing as opposed
to the traditional risk-history driven HIV testing in primary
care providers and among African American patients in two
settings. One site would be located in Providence, Rhode Island
and the other would be in Jackson, Mississippi. Routine testing
is defined as offering HIV tests to anyone without regards
to their stated risk history. An initial brief survey among
both the providers and the patients would help to establish
current attitudes and practices of HIV testing. A subsequent
pilot project composed of a training workshop including five
primary care doctors at each site would provide the doctors
with the necessary skills and knowledge to offer counseling
for routine HIV testing. After the workshop, a convenience
sample of one hundred patients in the practices of the workshop-trained
doctors would be queried to confirm if indeed they were offered
HIV testing by the primary care provider.
Because there is a significant percentage of unidentified
HIV infected individuals, and because the majority of all
patients visit a primary care doctor at some point in their
lives, primary care providers are in a unique position to
help to identify those undiagnosed HIV positive patients.
Primary care doctors are also in a unique position to help
to identify those undiagnosed HIV positive patients. Primary
care doctors are also in a unique position in that they, on
average, tend to practice in the communities in which they
serve. This provides them with opportunities to provide competent,
culturally sensitive and appropriate care and interventions
to the targeted population.
The results of the study would be used to apply for future
funding with the goal of understanding and eliminating the
large disparity in the HIV/AIDS infection rate within the
African-American community through improved HIV early diagnosis
and linkage to care.
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