HIV Risk Assessment Practices of Primary Care Providers: A National Survey

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Numerous public health and professional societies have called for physicians to conduct patient risk assessments that include HIV/AIDS. While the few national studies that have been conducted found that physicians infrequently conducted such risk assessments, no adequate measurement of this behavior has been carried out since 1996. Since that time, many changes in the epidemiology and treatment of the disease have occurred. The proposed study would provide data on the current practices of primary care physicians (i.e. obstetrician-gynecologists, family practice, general internal medicine and pediatrics) in the U.S. and identify factors related to non-compliance with HIV risk assessment recommendations. The specific aims of the proposed study are: 1) Identify the proportion of primary care physicians who are assessing their patients' HIV risk status on a routine basis and their level of compliance, and 2) Identify provider characteristics that are significantly associated with inadequate compliance. A questionnaire will be mailed to a national, cross-sectional, random sample of primary care physicians. This study will increase our understanding of why physicians do not assess their patients' HIV risk status. Such information could be used to design interventions that would increase HIV testing, timely treatment and preventive behaviors.