Health Services Research

Abstract

Approximately 250,000 people infected with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in the United States are not aware of their status.1 To identify these individuals and offer them counseling and treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in 2003 a prevention initiative incorporating HIV testing in routine medical care and implementing new models of HIV testing outside medical care settings.1,2 Many educational interventions have sought to improve HIV treatment, testing rates, and knowledge about HIV transmission to enable individuals to assess their own HIV risk status and identify risk-taking behaviors.3-5 However, little is known about how patients ’ health literacy might modify the impact of such prevention