Impact of Counseling Methods on HIV Retesting Uptake in At-Risk Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Study

• Main Authors: Nicolas Salvadori, Luc Decker, Nicole Ngo-Giang-Huong, Jean Yves Mary, Sylvie Chevret, Surachet Arunothong, Pierrick Adam, Woottichai Khamduang, Tanawan Samleerat, Prapan Luangsook, Visitsak Suksa-ardphasu, Jullapong Achalapong, Christine Rouzioux, Wasna Sirirungsi, Gonzague Jourdain
• Format: Journal
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Medicine; Psychology
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85074512159&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/68023
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Systematic face-to-face pre-HIV test counseling is costly and may discourage clients to present for regular testing. In a randomized, controlled, non-inferiority trial conducted in four facilities providing free-of-charge anonymous HIV testing in Thailand, participants received either: standard counseling according to national guidelines (reference); computer-assisted counseling: interactive counseling on a tablet computer followed by an invitation to ask questions to the counselor; or on-demand counseling: invitation to ask questions to the counselor. Primary endpoint was a HIV retest within 7 months after enrolment visit. Following the planned interim analysis, on-demand counseling was discontinued for futility. In the final analysis in 1036 HIV-uninfected at-risk participants, computer-assisted counseling was non-inferior to standard counseling and had similar acceptability and improvements in HIV knowledge and sexual risk behaviors; however, it significantly reduced the time spent by counselors on counseling. Implementation of pre-HIV test computer-assisted counseling may ease the burden on staff involved in HIV testing.