The impact of HIV knowledge and attitudes on HIV testing acceptance among patients in an emergency department in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Transmission of HIV in South Africa continues to be high due to a large proportion of individuals living with undiagnosed HIV. Uptake of HIV testing is influenced by a multitude of factors including the patient’s knowledge and beliefs about HIV.
Methods
This study sought to quantify the impact of knowledge and attitudes on HIV testing acceptance in an emergency department by co-administering a validated HIV knowledge and attitudes survey to patients who were subsequently offered HIV testing.
Results
During the study period 223 patients were interviewed and offered HIV testing. Individuals reporting more negative overall attitudes (p = 0.006), higher levels of stigma to HIV testing (p < 0.001), and individuals who believed their test was confidential (p < 0.001) were more likely to accept an HIV test.
Conclusions
Interventions focused on improving patient perceptions around testing confidentiality will likely have the greatest impact on testing acceptance in the emergency department.
Transmission of HIV in South Africa continues to be high due to a large proportion of individuals living with undiagnosed HIV. Uptake of HIV testing is influenced by a multitude of factors including the patient’s knowledge and beliefs about HIV.
Methods
This study sought to quantify the impact of knowledge and attitudes on HIV testing acceptance in an emergency department by co-administering a validated HIV knowledge and attitudes survey to patients who were subsequently offered HIV testing.
Results
During the study period 223 patients were interviewed and offered HIV testing. Individuals reporting more negative overall attitudes (p = 0.006), higher levels of stigma to HIV testing (p < 0.001), and individuals who believed their test was confidential (p < 0.001) were more likely to accept an HIV test.
Conclusions
Interventions focused on improving patient perceptions around testing confidentiality will likely have the greatest impact on testing acceptance in the emergency department.
Date Issued
2020-06-06
Date Acceptance
2020-06-26
Citation
BMC Public Health, 2020, 20
ISSN
1471-2458
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Public Health
Volume
20
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,
which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if
changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons
licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons
licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain
permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the
data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if
changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons
licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons
licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain
permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the
data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09170-x
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1066
Date Publish Online
2020-07-06