BEHAVIORAL SEQUELAE OF HIV TESTING

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DESCRIPTION (adapted from the Abstract): The public HIV testing and counseling services supported by CDC is the largest federal AIDS intervention program. The principal reason for being tested and wanting to know one's serostatus is the desire to prevent the spread of virus to partners and to seek early health care to delay the onset of AIDS- related symptoms and illnesses if infected, and to take further preventive measures, such as behavior modification, if not infected. Therefore, testing and counseling is used not only to determine the serostatus of individuals, but also to assist people to assess their risks, to encourage behavior modification, and to reinforce the maintenance of such behavior changes, and to refer infected individuals to clinical care. Consequently, the assessment of whether or not HIV- testing and knowledge of one's own serostatus, and the counseling that accompanies the HIV test have any effect on behavior change and maintenance is critical at this time. The broad objective of the proposed study is to examine the pre- and post-HIV test sexual and preventive behaviors of individuals and compare these behaviors to those of the individuals who have not been tested for HIV. Within the framework of this broad objective the researchers' specific aims are: (1) to conduct descriptive analyses that (a) document the distribution of pre- and post-test behavior of individuals who have been tested for HIV antibodies, (b) contrast the post-test behaviors of HIV-tested individuals with their behaviors prior to the HIV test, and (c) contrast the pre- and post-test behavior of the individuals with the behavior of individuals who have not been tested for HIV; (2) to conduct multivariate analyses that (a) identify the factors associated with post-test behavior change and estimate the relative influence of these factors on post-test behaviors, and (b) estimate the relative power of HIV-testing on subsequent behavior, net of the effects of other factors identified as influential on behavior change; and (3) on the basis of the relationships ascertained in Specific Aims 1 and 2 above, to identify target populations for interventions and to identify population specific determinants and correlates that can be used as the basis for interventions to increase the impact of HIV testing and counseling on behavior modification. These aims will be accomplished using data from the National Survey of Men (NSM) and the National Survey of Women (NSW) both conducted in 1991 with nationally representative samples of 3,321 men aged 20-39 years and 1,669 women age 20-37 years.