Communicating HIV Results to Low-Risk Individuals: Still Hazy After All These Years

Title:Communicating HIV Results to Low-Risk Individuals: Still Hazy After All These Years

Volume: 13 Issue: 5

Author(s): Katrina M. Ellis and Gary L. Brase

Affiliation:

Keywords: Bayesian reasoning, conditional risk, HIV counseling, HIV testing, numeracy, risk communication.

Abstract: Revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations on HIV testing now promote testing of most risk groups. However, positive results for low-risk individuals are more likely to be false positives than for high-risk individuals, making clear communication of test results even more imperative. In a study, we evaluated current counseling of low-risk test recipients via a sample of 29 HIV hotline counselors from U.S. state and national hotlines. 100% of counselors interviewed failed to provide an accurate conditional HIV risk for low-risk women, but were more likely than a 1998 German sample to report that false positives could occur. In a second study, undergraduates read idealized transcripts of interviews with HIV counselors and computed conditional risk for a low-risk individual. The natural frequency format offered a small but significant improvement in conditional reasoning, comparable to the effect of numerical literacy. Applications for ecologically valid numerical presentations of risk and implications for numeracy are discussed.

Cite this article as:

Ellis M. Katrina and Brase L. Gary, Communicating HIV Results to Low-Risk Individuals: Still Hazy After All These Years, Current HIV Research 2015; 13 (5) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570162X13666150511125629