Identifying barriers and facilitators to HIV testing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Identifying patient and clinician barriers and facilitators to HIV testing of people age 50 and above
IRAS ID
195256
Contact name
Elaney Youssef
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brighton and Sussex University NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 27 days
Research summary
As a result of effective antiretroviral therapy, HIV is now a manageable long term condition. When diagnosed early and started on therapy appropriately, HIV-positive individuals in the UK can now experience a near-normal life expectancy.
Despite these advances in treatment, late diagnosis of HIV continues to be associated with significantly poorer health outcomes. People age 50 and above continue to be most affected by late diagnosis of HIV. Clinically they do less well and cost more to healthcare services. However to date there has been very little research to identify barriers and facilitators to testing for HIV in this group.
Qualitative interviews will be conducted with patients diagnosed late with HIV in the last 3 years, who were age at least 50 years at time of diagnosis. They will be recruited through HIV clinics. Interviews will identify barriers and facilitators to testing for HIV. A healthcare utilisation screening questionnaire is a screening tool used to collect information on clinicians seen in the 5 years before diagnosis. Consent will be sought from patients for the researcher to contact these clinicians to invite them to take part in a separate qualitative interview. Patient details will not be passed onto the clinicians to maintain patient confidentiality. Interviews will identify barriers and facilitators to offering HIV tests to people age 50 or above.
Qualitative interviews will be digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
Findings from this study will identify patient and clinician barriers and facilitators to testing for HIV in people age 50 and above. Findings will be used to inform further studies planned within the same programme of work, and will inform future intervention(s) to reduce late diagnosis in this group.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SC/0279
Date of REC Opinion
21 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion