Youssef Elaney, Wright Juliet, A Davies Kevin, Delpech Valerie, Brown Alison, Cooper Vanessa, Sachikonye Memory, de Visser Richard
12190Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.
9697Public Health England, London, UK.
Int J STD AIDS. 2022 Mar;33(3):289-295. doi: 10.1177/09564624211059369. Epub 2021 Dec 29.
Individuals aged ≥ 50 years continue to be disproportionately affected by late HIV diagnosis, which is associated with poorer health outcomes and onward transmission. Despite HIV testing guidelines and high acceptability of HIV testing among all patients, clinicians are less likely to offer a test to an older individual. The aim of this study was to identify clinician-related factors associated with offering HIV testing to patients aged ≥ 50 years.
Twenty clinicians who had been involved in the care of an older patient diagnosed late with HIV were interviewed.
Thematic analysis identified seven factors associated with offering HIV testing to older people: knowledge, stigma, stereotyping and perception of risk, symptom attribution, discussing HIV with patients, consent procedures and practical issues.
Although some factors are not unique to older patients, some are unique to this group. Many clinicians lack up-to-date HIV-related knowledge, feel anxious discussing HIV with older patients and perceive asexuality in older age. In order to increase the offer of HIV testing to this group, we identified clinician-related barriers to test offer that need to be addressed.
50岁及以上的人群仍然受到艾滋病毒晚期诊断的影响尤为严重，这与较差的健康结果和病毒传播有关。尽管有艾滋病毒检测指南，且所有患者对艾滋病毒检测的接受度都很高，但临床医生向老年个体提供检测的可能性较小。本研究的目的是确定与向50岁及以上患者提供艾滋病毒检测相关的临床医生因素。
对20名参与过护理晚期诊断为艾滋病毒的老年患者的临床医生进行了访谈。
主题分析确定了与向老年人提供艾滋病毒检测相关的七个因素：知识、耻辱感、刻板印象和风险认知、症状归因、与患者讨论艾滋病毒、同意程序和实际问题。
虽然有些因素并非老年患者所独有，但有些是该群体所特有的。许多临床医生缺乏最新的艾滋病毒相关知识，在与老年患者讨论艾滋病毒时感到焦虑，并认为老年人无性需求。为了增加对这一群体的艾滋病毒检测提供，我们确定了需要解决的与临床医生相关的检测提供障碍。
