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AIDS Care
Psychological and Socio-medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume 28, 2016 - Issue 3
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Articles

Comparing the unmatched count technique and direct self-report for sensitive health-risk behaviors in HIV+ adults

, , , , , , & show all
Pages 370-375 | Received 13 Apr 2015, Accepted 24 Aug 2015, Published online: 08 Oct 2015
 

ABSTRACT

Researchers often rely on self-report measures to assess sensitive health-risk behaviors in HIV+ individuals, yet the accuracy of self-report has been questioned, particularly when inquiring about behaviors that may be embarrassing, risky, and/or taboo. We compared an anonymous reporting method – the unmatched count technique (UCT) – to direct self-report (DSR) in order to assess reporting differences for several health-risk behaviors related to medication adherence and sexual risk. Contrary to hypotheses, the UCT only produced a significantly higher estimated base rate for one sensitive behavior: reporting medication adherence to one's physician, which may have been contextually primed by our study design. Our results suggest that anonymous reporting methods may not increase disclosure compared to DSR when assessing several health-risk behaviors in HIV+ research volunteers. However, our results also suggest that contextual factors should be considered and investigated further, as they may influence perception of sensitive behavior.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health [grant number R01 DA013799] (PI: C.H. Hinkin) and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32 MH019535; PI: C.H. Hinkin). Dr Thames is supported by an NIMH Career Development Award (K23 MH095661; PI: A. Thames).

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