AIDS Tests Can Be Powerful Motivator for Safer Sex, Study Finds

Getting tested for the AIDS virus, even when the result is negative, can serve as a powerful impetus toward safer sex, according to a new UCLA study exploring whether AIDS testing can change the behavior of people at relatively low risk of infection.

The researchers found that heterosexuals randomly selected to receive the test and counseling were more likely than those who got counseling alone to begin worrying about AIDS, questioning their sexual partners and using a condom or avoiding intercourse.

“What this shows is that (testing and counseling) should be incorporated in future attempts to develop interventions to reduce the chance of (AIDS virus) spread through heterosexuals,” said Dr. Neil S. Wenger, the lead author of the paper published today in the American Journal of Public Health.

The role of testing in AIDS prevention programs has long been debated by physicians, ethicists, AIDS activists and politicians. But, according to Wenger, its effectiveness in altering the behavior of heterosexuals, as opposed to gays, had barely been studied.

Wenger conducted his research at a Los Angeles County sexually transmitted disease clinic that at the time was not offering AIDS testing. His 186 volunteer subjects were assigned randomly to one of two groups--one receiving testing and the other not.

The participants filled out questionnaires at the beginning and during a meeting two months later on subjects that included sexual behavior, worries about health and AIDS, and information known about their most recent sexual partners.

The average age of the men and women in the study was 27. Most were black men, high school graduates, unmarried and employed.

At the beginning of the study, there were few differences between the behavior of the two groups. Eighty-eight percent reported having had vaginal intercourse without a condom in the previous month; 9% reported having had anal intercourse without a condom.

But at the follow-up meeting, those who had received tests for the human immunodeficiency virus were more likely than those who had not to report that they were more worried about getting AIDS than they had been before the study. Among the group who had HIV tests, 45% reported worrying more about AIDS after having been tested, compared to 26% in the non-test group.

Similarly, 41% of the test group said they had asked their most recent sexual partner about their HIV status, compared to 13% of the same group before testing. Only 24% of the non-test group had made a similar inquiry, compared to 15% before.

Finally, 27% of the test group told researchers that they had avoided intercourse or used a condom after testing and counseling--compared to 13% of the group that received counseling only.

“This is just a single, small study,” said Wenger, an assistant professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. “It applies only to a small population. But it’s probably a very, very important population.

“It’s a minority, low socioeconomic group and this is where a greater and greater percentage of the AIDS cases are coming from,” he said. “And, it is a heterosexual group, which could be a link to larger heterosexual populations.”