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Psychologists' perceptions of their duty to protect uninformed sex partners of HIV‐positive clients ‡
Author(s) -
Simone Simone J.,
Fulero Solomon M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.450
Subject(s) - confidentiality , duty to warn , perception , mental health , duty , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychology , medicine , health professionals , psychiatry , social psychology , clinical psychology , family medicine , health care , computer security , law , neuroscience , computer science , political science
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether mental health professionals would breach the confidentiality of HIV‐infected patients with uninformed sex partners, and how any such disclosure would occur. Subjects read one of eight vignettes that depicted a patient who refused to disclose his viral status. Results revealed a split of opinion about breaching confidentiality and about the preferred mode for doing so. Neither diagnosis nor mode of viral transmission significantly influenced breaching decisions. Subjects demonstrated a high level of AIDS risk knowledge but only a moderate level of legal/ethical knowledge. Implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.