|
Aids Counseling for Low-Risk Clients |
|
|
|
|
Max Planck - Aids Counseling for Low-Ris [attached]
‘Hiv tests’ test for….? Depends on who you are: Aids Counseling for Low-Risk Clients
“Counseling people at low risk [wealthy, white, heterosexual] requires paying particular attention to false positives, that is, to the possibility that the client has a positive HIV test even though he or she is not infected with the virus … If clients are not informed about this fact, they tend to believe that a positive test means that they are infected with absolute certainty…. Emotional pain and lives can be saved if counselors inform the clients about the possibility of false positives.”
Also see Gerd Gigerenzer’s book, Calculated Risks, on the odds that a test is “accurate.” That is, that it should be ‘considered accurate’, if you are, or are not, in a ‘risk group.’ (ie, The tests are considered ‘accurate’ or ‘useful’ for persons who are Black, Gay, Poor, or Drug-addicted. Otherwise, you’re warned against testing; or at least, it’s important to be told that your test is probably or likely not accurate or meaningful).
|
The NIH Investigation 