Is HIV testing normal or special? Opinions of health professionals in four European countries in 2008

Abstract

The special norms in testing for HIV infection are not typical of testing or screening for other diseases. In four European countries, we studied health professionals’ views on HIV testing

This study is based on cross-sectional surveys of two groups of health professionals: presidents of selected health professional societies and head physicians and nurses of selected hospital clinics in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, and Portugal in 2008. A common structured semi-anonymous questionnaire was used in the four countries. The number of societies responding varied from five to 10 and for hospital clinics from six to 18; the response rates were from 32% to 100% and 41% to 100%, respectively.

Opinions on whether HIV testing is like any other test and on the value of specific approaches in HIV testing varied both within and between countries. Some professionals thought that HIV testing is different from the testing of other infectious diseases; others thought that such an exceptional approach may be a disservice to people and to the health system. Many professionals thought that HIV testing should not be thought of only from the point of view of the individual to be tested, but also from that of other people (potential patients). Obligatory testing was considered appropriate in certain circumstances. Generally, more HIV testing in health care was called for.

Normalization of HIV testing, i.e., considering it like any other diagnostic test, is unlikely to meet much opposition from health professionals. Larger surveys are needed to confirm the results.

Keywords:

• HIV testing
• voluntary
• pre-test counseling
• health professionals
• patient choice
• Europe
• survey

Acknowledgements

The study is part of a study “Assessment of HIV testing in Europe: from policies to effectiveness”, funded by a grant from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) – contract EDC.636: Opinions expressed are those of the Contractor only and do not represent the official position of the ECDC.

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interests. All people listed as authors fulfil the criteria for authorship. Elina Hemminki did the design and drafted the article. Elena Regushevskaya did the analysis and participated in the writing of the article. Kristi Ruutel participated in the design of the study, coordinated the data collection in Estonia and participated in the writing of the article. Henrique Barros participated in the design of the study, coordinated the data collection in Portugal and participated in interpretation of data. Tomasz Niemiec participated in the design of the study, coordinated the data collection in Poland and participated in interpretation of data. Minna Nikula participated in the making of the data collection instrument and participated in the writing of the article. Hannamaria Kuusio coordinated the data collection in Finland and participated in the analysis and writing of the article. Jessika Deblonde was the responsible researcher for the whole project setting up the international comparison, participated in the design of the study, coordinated the data collection in Belgium and participated in the writing of the article.