Patient acceptance of and satisfaction with rapid HIV Testing in a Labor and Delivery Setting.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate women's acceptance of and satisfaction with rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in a labor and delivery (L&D) setting.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of pregnant women who underwent counseling for rapid HIV testing in an L&D unit at a university-affiliated urban hospital from April 1, 2005, to July 15, 2006. Medical chart abstractions were performed for all 158 eligible women, and a convenience sample of 46 women also completed a survey evaluating their satisfaction using a validated decisional conflict scale.


RESULTS
Uptake of rapid HIV testing was 98.1% (155 of 158). Overall, 89.1% of the 46 surveyed women reported feeling satisfied with their testing experience, and 82.6% of women reported no decisional conflict in making decisions for rapid testing; 9% of women reported decisional conflict. The median decisional conflict score on a scale of 0-100 was 5 (mean 11.6, SD 16). In addition, most women reported feeling certain about their decision to test (87.0%), feeling informed about testing (76.1%), having high levels of clarity about their values regarding testing (76.1%), and feeling supported in their decision-making process (76.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
In this study population, there was a high level of acceptance and satisfaction with rapid HIV testing in the L&D setting. Rapid HIV testing is a vital component of perinatal HIV transmission prevention, as well as being an opportunity for women, some of whom have little contact with the healthcare system, to learn their HIV status.
Rahangdale
Lisa
L
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-5317, USA. Lisar9@stanford.edu
Sarnquist
Clea
C
Maldonado
Yvonne
Y
Cohan
Deborah
D
D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic