CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUALS USING DIFFERENT HIV AIDS COUNSELING AND TESTING PROGRAMS/

Objective: To describe clinically important differences in the charact eristics of subjects using three distinct HIV counseling and testing s ettings: scheduled confidential, scheduled anonymous, and confidential walk-in. Design: An HIV risk-assessment questionnaire was given to in dividuals prior to receiving HIV-antibody testing and counseling. Meth ods: Demographic and behavioral data was analyzed for each of the thre e counseling and testing settings. Results: Walk-in clinic subjects re ported fewer high-risk sexual activities and other risk behaviors than subjects from the other two testing settings. They also included more individuals who were health-care workers and victims of sexual assaul t. Conclusions: The three distinct HIV counseling and testing settings each attracted populations with varying degrees of potential for HIV transmission. The results emphasize the importance of maintaining mult iple approaches to HIV counseling and testing in order to reach increa singly diverse at-risk populations.