District Youth and HIV Testing
Kids fuck. You wanna know what kids in the District think about fucking and getting tested for HIV? I'm not sure you do. But Metro TeenAIDS worked up a survey of 13-to-24 year olds and released the somewhat-disturbing/somewhat-expected results on its Web site recently. OK. Recently is a bit of a stretch. Try June. But it's August and no one here has a thing to say about Merv.
So the news nugget for those not reading Merv obits: A surprising number of young gay/bi males opted to get tested but failed to show up to get the results of their tests. You can find the full survey here.
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9:54 am
Interesting why they did not show up for the results but maybe it was because they already have convinced themselves what the results would be so why bother.
12:58 pm
"Studies" are somewhat unreliable when they not peer reviewed. Or at least we can't completely accept a study without a little bit of skepticism. First, they claim the survey of 466 people was completed in one day, National AIDS Testing day. How did MTA get the required surveyers to pull this off in one day on their modest community based organization budget? I dont doubt that they did. But you gotta question the quality of the data when so many surveys are done in an extremely small amount of time.
Secondly, the study repeatedly compares the gay and hetero groups. In the entire study, 81% reported being heterosexual. The sample of gay/lesbian/transgendered is small compared to the sample of heterosexuals which makes comparisons a little bit of a stretch.
Finally, the entire question of "did you return for your results" doesn't make much sense. Nowadays, HIV testers should be using the OraQuick exam which takes approximiately 15-20 minutes for a result. The common protocol is to take the test, do counseling for the 15min and then give the results with posttest counseling. Health care providers should be better at making sure their patients receive their tests promptly. The burden isn't entirely on the ones who go in for a test.
All that said, the survey can still be an important tool for a comprehensive hiv education/testing policy.
1:35 pm
2cents:
Thanks for examining the study. You make some good points.
8:55 am
We really appreciate the comments here. In a city where the only thing we know for sure is that rates of HIV/AIDS are rising, we know very little about behaviors that put young people at risk for HIV. The Department of Health, under the leadership of Tiffany West, has finally begun to re-focus on the importance of epidemiological surveillance but honestly, they have many years of neglect to make up for.
While MTA doesn't have the resources of the health department, we do access a lot of youth and felt we should be asking what's going on in their lives and sharing with with others in the city. We operate by supporting young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but we can't do that without real information about what is fueling the epidemic. We hope to be able to publish more of these kinds of informative monographs. We anticipate that the next will include results of our work in schools - results from a 10-session HIV and Substance Abuse curriculum.
Please never hesitate to call us if there are any questions.