The acceptability of a computer HIV/AIDS risk assessment to not-in-treatment drug users

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study assessing the acceptability of a computer HIV risk assessment instrument administered to not-in-treatment drug users. The study asked three questions related to ac ceptability: (1) are drug users comfortable responding to HIV risk question s using the computer assessment; (2) do drug users feel that they possess t he requisite skill to respond to questions using a computer; and (3) do dru g users believe that the responses they provide using the computer assessme nt will remain private and confidential. This study differs front other ass essments of the acceptability of computer assisted data collection in that the population of interest has only limited education and interaction with computers. Furthermore, the study was implemented under field conditions. T o conduct the study, an existing HIV risk assessment instrument was adapted for use with the computer. Only slight modifications were made to the cont ent of the instrument. To facilitate data collection with this population, audio enhancement and touch screen were used. Three scales measuring comfor t, skill and perceived privacy were developed. Results of analysis showed t hat drug users are comfortable responding to an HIV risk assessment using c omputer assisted interviewing. Drug users also perceived that they possesse d the requisite skill to successfully complete the interview. And, study pa rticipants reported that they believed that their responses using the compu ter interview would remain private and confidential. Only minor differences in scale scores based on sociodemographic characteristics were found among study participants. Implications of the findings are discussed.