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Abstract: 

Most correctional administrators and health care professionals agree that routine HIV testing at intake is a useful and important first step in controlling the spread of AIDs. But most prison and jail systems to not screen as a regular practice. In “Efficacy of Structured Organizational Change Intervention on HIV Testing in Correctional Facilities” by Steven Belenko, Christy Visher, Frank Pearson, Holly Swan, Michele Pich, Daniel O’Connell, Richard Dembo, Linda Frisman, Leah Hamilton, and Jennifer Willett, published in the journal AIDS Education and Prevention (November 2017), the authors reported on a multisite cluster randomized trial of structured organizational change intervention for improving HIV testing services in jails and prisons. Our reviewer Margaret Moreland summarizes the report’s findings—in a “walk-through” exercise, the teams looked at their local HIV service system from an inmate’s perspective and then used the data and information gained to identify specific issues, analyze the service delivery process from an inmate’s perspective, develop potential solutions, and test those solutions in through brief “rapid cycle test.” The trial results “demonstrated that correctional staff, medical providers, and community-based HIV service providers can work collaboratively toward achieving improvements in HIV testing (and other HIV services).”

Keywords: Opt-out HIV testing at intake

Affiliations:  1: Contributing Editor.