Abstract

Introduction: The oral rapid HIV test (ORT) has been shown worldwide as an effective tool to increase the uptake of HIV testing and also the number of people who receive their test results. ORT has never been used in Chile for general screening. Should the technology become government approved for clinical use, a recent study in 2014 found that perceived comfort in performing a rapid HIV test was the strongest predictor of readiness to adopt ORT among Chilean healthcare professionals. Methodology: Cross sectional design, 150 healthcare professionals completed a self administered questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, perceived readiness and comfort in performing ORT, and HIV-related stigmatization. Participants also were asked how comfortable they would feel performing pre-counseling, oral and finger-prick rapid testing, and giving a positive or negative test result with corresponding post-test counseling. Results: A mean score of 16.21 (range 0-20),which indicates a high level of comfort with ORT. Participants felt least comfortable with giving a positive test result and providing appropriate post-test counseling to these patients. Stigmatizing attitudes were negatively related to perceived comfort performing ORT. The study’s findings point to the need to address HIV related stigmatization among healthcare professionals and also to offer ORT training that increases providers’ comfort in delivering a positive ORT result. By increasing their perceived comfort performing ORT, health care workers’ readiness to adopt ORT also is likely to increase along with the greater probability of implementation success. Readiness is associated with providers behaviors, therefore it has an impact on the access to patients.