Practices Related to HIV Risk Assessment in General Hospital Psychiatric Units in New York State

Abstract

Semistructured interviews including (questions about practices related to HIV risk assessment were conducted on 53 psychiatric units of general hospitals in New York State in 1992 and 1993. Few units have adopted practices across the board. Assessment of risk for many or almost all patients was reported by 25 units (47 percent). On three units (6 percent) all patients received information about HIV, and on 13 (25 percent) many patients did. Twenty units (38 percent) reported counseling only a few patients about risk, and eight (15 percent) counseled almost none. Twenty-eight (53 percent) urged only a few patients to get an HIV test, and nine (17 percent) urged almost none.

Challenges to HIV prevention in psychiatric settings: Perceptions of South African mental health care providers

“…North American studies suggest that lack of knowledge, stigmatizing ideas and institutional barriers have limited providers' readiness to respond to HIV prevention needs in mental health settings (Herman et al, 1994;Satriano, Rothschild, Steiner, & Oldham, 1999;Walkup, Satriano, Hansell, & Olfson, 1998). Providers' age, sex, sexual orientation, and clinical experience working with HIV have been linked to their comfort in addressing HIV in some mental health care settings (Wright & Martin, 2003).…”

Barriers of HIV testing among mentally ill persons in mental healthcare settings

“…HIV/AIDS continue to present a major challenges for mental health professionals. Screening for risk factors may also suffer because professionals are reluctant to bring up HIV with psychiatric patients, often out of well-meaning concern for the patients [34,35]. Providers may overestimate the anxiety caused by taking a sexual history.…”

Screening for and prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C among an outpatient urban sample of people with serious mental illness and co‐occurring substance abuse

“…Furthermore, Goldberg et al (2005) found that among those with serious mental illness less than half (41%) ever received HCV testing. Although there are clear guidelines and health mandates to screen for HIV and viral hepatitis (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, 2000, 1998; Branson et al) these critical public health recommendations are not routinely provided to those with serious mental illness and are rarely implemented in the mental health systems of care (Brunette, Drake, Marsh, Torrey, & Rosenberg, 2003; Rosenberg et al, 2005; Satriano, McKinnon, & Adoff, 2007; Senn et al, 2009; Solomon et al, 2007; Swartz et al, 2003; Walkup, Satriano, Hansell, & Olfson, 1998). This is particularly important as people with serious mental illness may rely on the mental health system to provide basic medical services (Chwastiak, Rosenheck, & Kazis, 2008; Druss & von Esenwein, 2006; Druss & Newcomer, 2007; Zeber, Copeland, McCarthy, Bauer, & Kilbourne, 2009).…”