Risk perception and counselling among HIV-positive women in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Risk perception and counselling among HIV-positive women in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Int J STD AIDS. 2000 Feb;11(2):112-4. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/20141947
Ventura-Filipe EM; Bugamelli LE; Leme B; Santos NJ; Garcia S; Paiva V; Hearst N; Programa Estadual de DST/AIDS de Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo State; STD/AIDS Programme), Brazil. efilipe@cebinet.com.br

Abstract: This study of HIV-positive women at a clinic for HIV/AIDS in Sao Paulo examined their risk perception for HIV before they had learned of their diagnosis and their experiences with pre- and post-test counselling. A sample of 148 women was interviewed regarding demographics, HIV risk factors and risk perception, pre- and post-test counselling, and sexual and reproductive conduct. The majority (77%) had been infected by their partners--37% by an injecting drug user partner. More than half (53%) did not perceive themselves at risk before learning of their HIV status and, of 68 who had perceived themselves at risk, 29% did so only after their partners became ill. The majority (64%) did not receive any kind of pre-test counselling. Post-test counselling was reported by 83% but 14% reported being mishandled by a physician in the process. Findings suggest the importance of prevention efforts to reduce women's barriers to learning about HIV status and the necessity of improving the quality of pre- and post-test counselling.

Keywords: JOURNAL ARTICLE Brazil *Counseling Cross-Sectional Studies Female Human HIV Seropositivity/*PSYCHOLOGY Perception Risk Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
000530
A0052231

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