Barriers to HIV testing and confidentiality: The concerns of HIV-positive and high-risk individuals

The authors report that individuals who are at highest risk! of contracting HIV indicated the greatest concern about confidentiality and the greatest knowledge of local reporting law. Although concern about confidentiality ma y not be cited as the most common reason to delay or defer testing it is an important consideration for a minority of individuals-the very segment who are at highest risk of contracting HIV and are the most important targets of campaigns to encourage HIV testing. The particular concerns of this crit ical segment of the population at risk must be directly and carefully addre ssed and not lost in a general assessment of population-wide attitudes/conc erns about HIV testing. Studies that examine individuals' concerns about HI V testing and privacy and do not stratify by level of HIV risk may obscure the important and heightened concerns of this most important subpopulation.