HIV Knowledge, Perceived Risk and Gender as Modulators of Salivary HIV Rapid Testing in African Americans.

Background: Of more than 1.2 million people in the United States (US) living with HIV infection, almost 1 in 8 (12.8%) are unaware of their infection. The introduction of a rapid HIV test using a saliva sample in 2004 made immediate results possible in community-based settings. Despite use of salivary rapid testing (SRT) over the last ten years, not enough is known about barriers to and acceptability of SRT among African Americans (AAs).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with SRT for HIV among AAs.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 329 AA men and women recruited from a sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic.

Results: Results of study showed that participants with higher AIDS knowledge (<0.001) and problem-focused coping (<0.003) tended to have higher likelihood for participation in testing. In terms of seeking medical help, participants with lower emotional-focused coping, lower risky behavior and higher AIDS knowledge tended to be more likely to seek medical help (=0.015, <0.001, <0.04, respectively). Female participants with higher values of risky behavior tended to be more likely to participate in testing (=0.001).

Conclusions: The findings support the need to assess barriers and facilitators to testing decisions in order to increase testing rates. In particular, AIDS knowledge and either problem or emotional-focused coping and risky behaviors, based on gender may be important in making testing and care entry decisions.