Abstract
The views about autonomy in medical treatment of people with HIV infection (who had acquired it via the injection of drugs) and their professional carers were investigated using a standardized self-report instrument. Forty-two patients and 61 staff were entered in the study. Patients and staff reported strong endorsement of patient autonomy, but there were important differences between groups. Staff as a group reported higher preference for patients' involvement in decision-making than the patients themselves, while the opposite was true for information-seeking, where patients wanted more information than staff had anticipated. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.