Faculty Articles
Title
Barriers to Universal Prenatal HIV Testing in 4 US Locations in 1997
Publication Title
American Journal of Public Health
Volume
91
Issue
5
Publication Date / Copyright Date
5-1-2001
First Page
727
Last Page
733
Abstract
Objectives. We determined rates of prenatal HIV testing and investigated barriers to testing. Methods.We surveyed 1362 representative parturient women from 7 hospitals in 4 locations of the United States. Results. Overall, 89.9% of women reported being offered HIV testing and 69.6% reported being tested. Proportions of women not offered testing differed by location (range=5.2%–16.3%), as did proportions not tested (range= 12.2%–54.4%).Among women who perceived that their clinicians had not recommended testing, 41.7% were tested, compared with 92.8% of women who perceived a strong recommendation (P< .05). Private insurance for prenatal care was also associated with not being tested. Women gave multiple reasons for not being tested, most commonly not being at risk, having been tested recently, and the test’s not being offered or recommended, cited by 55.3%, 39.1% and 11.1% of women, respectively. Conclusions. Although most parturient women were offered a prenatal HIV test and got tested, testing proportions did not reach national goals and differed significantly by location and payment status. Concern about testing consequences was not a major barrier. Perception of clinicians’ recommendations strongly influenced testing. Changing provider practices will be essential to implementing universal prenatal HIV testing.
Disciplines
Medical Specialties | Medicine and Health Sciences | Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy
NSUWorks Citation
Royce, Rachel A.; Walter, Emmanuel B.; Fernandez, Maria I.; Wilson, Tracey E.; Ickovics, Jeannette R.; Simonds, R J.; and For the Perinatal Guidelines Evaluation Report, "Barriers to Universal Prenatal HIV Testing in 4 US Locations in 1997" (2001). Faculty Articles. 647.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_com_faculty_articles/647
