Clinic tours: A novel approach for encouraging HIV testing behaviors among high-risk youth

Objectives. HIV testing is a critical opportunity to offer information and prevention methods to youth. However, adolescents are reluctant to access health care or take advantage of screening opportunities. Group visits to clinics may provide peer support for youth to obtain HIV testing. The purpose of this study is to assess whether youth who attend the clinic in a group (clinic tour) were more likely to get tested than those who attended a HIV education class and were invited to the clinic for testing. The secondary objective is to assess the HIV risk behaviors of the clinic tour group.

METHODS. Chi square analysis was used to compare HIV testing utilization between both groups. Descriptive information was obtained from an adolescent self-administered survey assessing risk behaviors for HIV. A risk score was calculated from each participant response.

Results. Youth from the clinic tour group were more likely to get tested for HIV than those from the HIV education group (p<.001). Responses from the survey revealed that a majority of the youth from the clinic tour group were engaging in high-risk behavior for HIV. More than 90% of the youth reported initiating sex younger than 15 years of age, 58.0% reported having used alcohol and drugs during intercourse and 53.1% indicated having sex with two or more people during the past six months.

Conclusion. Our findings indicate that clinic tours are a convenient and effective way to encourage testing behavior among high-risk youth