Many victims of sexual assault fear that they may have been exposed to HIV. Some are therefore likely to seek HIV counseling and testing services. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention HIV Counseling and Testing System (HIV-CTS) includes an item indicating whether the person seeking testing reported being a victim of a sexual assault. This paper presents the results from an exploratory analysis of the reporting of sexual assaults during HIV pretest counseling sessions at publicly funded HIV counseling and testing sites. From 1992 through 1997, there were 412,033 visits to CDC funded counseling and testing sites with clients reporting in 16,250 visits that they were seeking testing related to a sexual assault. The proportion of visits reporting sexual assault remained relatively stable from 1994 through 1997. About 7 percent of female client visits reported sexual assault versus 1.4% of male client visits. A modest relationship was found between the HIV-CTS data for persons under 18, child protective service cases of substantiated sexual abuse, and FBI Uniform Crime Reports of rape. Geographic information system mapping was used to compare reporting rates at the county level. Several key issues are discussed, including the variation in reporting among demographic and geographic groups (e.g. race/ethnicity, age, gender, rural-urban), the co-occurrence of exposure to HIV and sexual assault, identification of specific at-risk populations, and implications for outreach, prevention, and HIV counseling and testing.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Keywords: Sexual Assault, HIV Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.