Factors promoting and impeding HIV testing among adolescents in juvenile drug court

ABSTRACT

A randomized pilot study compared Risk Reduction Therapy for Adolescents (RRTA) to treatment as usual (TAU); the present study examined whether intervention condition influenced HIV testing, barriers to HIV testing, and HIV communication among adolescents involved in juvenile drug courts overall and by sexual experience. Of 105 participants, 13.3% had HIV pre-treatment testing, whereas 27.2% (of 92 participants) indicated follow-up HIV testing. Sexually active youth in RRTA (but not in TAU) reported a significant increase in HIV testing over time. RRTA demonstrated the greatest increase in HIV testing (8% pre-treatment to 44% follow-up), but not significantly more than TAU. Prevalence of barriers to HIV testing were observed at consistent rates among adolescents who did not get tested for HIV within either treatment condition. Adolescents in both conditions reported increased communication about HIV at follow-up. HIV testing was positively associated with perceived need for testing and testing resource accessibility. Stigma remained a barrier to testing at follow-up for RRTA (22%) and TAU (21%) participants. The RRTA intervention increased HIV testing and both interventions increased adolescents’ communication about HIV; however, barriers persisted, warranting treatment modification.

KEYWORDS:

• Barriers
• parent–child communication
• risky behavior
• sexual active
• substance use
• youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Rebecca L. Fix http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5506-3960

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers: [grant number R01DA025880, T32DA007292, T32DA031099, and K01DA045224]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.