'It should be an ordinary thing'--a qualitative study about young people's experiences of taking the HIV-test and receiving the test result.
OBJECTIVE
Increased HIV-testing has public health benefits, but for youth there is a multitude of barriers against the test. The aim of this study is to explore how young women and men in Sweden experience HIV-testing within primary healthcare.


METHODS
Six focus-group interviews were tape recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed according to qualitative content analysis.


RESULTS
Three themes emerged, describing how the informants were met before, during and after testing; 'Obstacles accessing the clinic'- describes their perceptions on how to overcome different barriers and enter into primary health care. 'Quick and easy testing'- describes perceptions of the testing procedure and 'Conflicting and unclear information about test results'- describes inconsistencies concerning communication of the test result and a concern about 'what would happen' in the event of an HIV-positive finding. Most of these youth preferred the HIV-test 'quick and easy' and preferred a telephone referral of the test result. A minority of them worried about HIV, and they thought that the staff seemed to be unprepared for an HIV-positive test result.


CONCLUSIONS
According to these youth, a quick and easy testing procedure together with a short pretest discussion may be sufficient and may also help normalising the testing practice. In a Swedish context, it may be common to see heterosexual youth as a risk-free population, and this perception may act as a barrier for HIV-testing and increase missed opportunities for early diagnose of HIV within primary care.
Christianson
Monica
M
Umeå Centre for Gender Studies, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. monica.christianson@ucgs.umu.se
Berglin
Björn
B
Johansson
Eva Elisabeth
EE
D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden