Impart: Provider-Assisted HIV Partner Notification

This study compares three options for partner notification:

• Option 1 (Self-tell): Participant is encouraged to disclose his HIV+ status to his partner(s) and given information about sites where his partner(s) can receive free HIV testing.
• Option 2 (Tell together): Participant discloses his HIV+ status to his partners with a counselor (project staff) present. Counselor refers the partner to HIV testing, including a study-affiliated HIV testing site.
• Option 3 (Provider referral): Project staff (nurse or peer educator) will notify the partner anonymously - without identifying the participant (index patient). Partners are offered immediate HIV testing in their home or at a study-affiliated HIV testing site.

Inclusion criteria

for HIV-positive Prisoners (N=65): Index patients must beat least 18 years of age, HIV-seropositive and aware of their HIV+ status; (HIV-infection documented by a rapid HIV test); sexually active and/or sharing needles in the 12 months before incarceration; incarcerated within the past 3 years and ≥6 months of their prison sentence remaining. We will limit enrollment to index patients who are willing to notify partners and have 1 or more partner(s) who have not yet been notified.

Inclusion criteria

for Partners: Eligible partners will be persons who participants (index patients) are able to identify by first and/or last name, residential address and/or mobile phone number, and physical descriptors (e.g., approximate height) and have given nurses permission to contact. No named partner will be excluded on the basis of religion, ethnicity, age, sex, or gender identity.