HIV Testing Avoidance: A Comparison of Psychosocial Factors Affecting HIV Testing in Gay and Bisexual Men

This paper explores the role three psychosocial factors influence an at-risk individual’s decision to get tested for HIV. Two of the psychosocial factors, HIV stigma and fatalistic beliefs regarding an HIV positive diagnosis, have been well documented in the literature on HIV testing and psychosocial barriers. However, the third psychosocial factor, the tendency to avoid threatening information, has not been studied in relation to HIV testing. The present paper seeks to explore how each of these factors impact both past and present HIV testing behaviors in gay and bisexual identified men. HIV stigma and fatalistic beliefs related to an HIV positive diagnosis were not found as significant predictors of past or present HIV testing behavior. However, HIV status related information avoidance was a predictor of both past and present HIV testing behavior