title: What do young women think about having a chlamydia test? Views of women who tested positive compared with women who tested negative.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine young women's experience of having a chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) test as part of a chlamydia incidence study, and to determine how women who tested positive during the study experienced having a test compared with the experience of women who always tested negative.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women in an Australian chlamydia incidence study were tested at 3- to 6-monthly intervals during a 12-month period. At the final stage of the study, the women completed a questionnaire about how they felt about testing positive or how they anticipated they might feel about testing positive if they only tested negative. Questions about future sexual behaviour and testing were included.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The questionnaire was completed by 872 out of 1116 (78%) women, including 67 women who tested positive. Many women (75%) felt anxious when having a chlamydia test but women who tested positive were less concerned about their future health (61% v. 81%, P<0.01), were less concerned about their partner's reactions (62% v. 79%, P<0.01) and were more likely to discuss their diagnosis with other people (57% v. 36%, P<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The participants in the study were pleased to have been tested and supported a screening program. Women who tested positive were less concerned about having a positive result than women who tested negative anticipated they might be.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clinicians need to be aware that having a chlamydia test can cause anxiety in young women and for a screening program to be successful, this must be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Women's Health, Gender and Society, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia. walker@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Christopher K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Fairley
authors.forename: Jade
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bilardi
authors.forename: Marcus Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Catriona S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Bradshaw
authors.forename: Eve
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pirotta
authors.forename: Hudson
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Birden
authors.forename: Basil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Donovan
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kaldor
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gunn
authors.forename: Jane S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hocking
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008219:Lymphogranuloma Venereum / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires