title: Prenatal HIV counseling and testing in California: women's experiences and providers' practices.
abstract: Two concurrent surveys were conducted in four California counties to compare the prenatal HIV counseling and voluntary testing (C&VT) experiences of women with the self-reported practices of prenatal care providers. Participants were 850 women currently or recently receiving prenatal care and 254 providers. Although 79.9% of women reported being offered an HIV test during a prenatal visit, only 56.2% said they were told about the risks and benefits of taking an HIV test. Almost all providers (98.4%) indicated they offer an HIV test, and 76.8% reported offering counseling, to every patient. One third of the women (65.9%) knew that treatment exists for reducing the chance of prenatal transmission of HIV, and 78.7% of women said they were more likely to be tested given knowledge of such therapy. Women may have underreported prenatal C&VT because providers spend insufficient time discussing related issues or because C&VT information is not presented in a way that is relevant to all patients.
authors.affiliation: California Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS, Sacramento 94234-7320, USA. jruiz1@dhs.ca.gov
authors.forename: Juan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Molitor
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prussing
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peck
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grasso
mesh_terms: D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D003211:Concurrent Review; D003376:Counseling; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*