A counselor describes how she probes to understand the client's reason for testing. These open ended questions elicit a lot more information on the client's level of HIV education.
For more ideas on open ended questions.
Nicolas: Ok, well, uhm, how do you figure out why the person is there to be tested?
C: Uhm, I usually ask them early on you know what brings you in to get tested, uhm, if they say it's a new relationship I ask them well how new is the relationship and we'll talk a little bit about that, uhm, if they say it's for a status check I'll ask them if they're closing their window, if they give me a look like what do you mean? I explain what closing the window is, uhm, so I I basically ask them, one of the other things I always ask them is what do they consider as protective sex, uhm, because everybody has a different opinion and most older men I know what they're opinion is and so they'll go like well what do you mean, and I'll go like, do you take your penis fiddle around with it rub it up against her go in a little bit a couple of times and then say ok I'm ready to have sex and then you strap it on and they look at me like how do you know that? (laughter) Cause that's what men used to do back in our day, and uhm, it was strange on Sunday, I had a young guy, 21, he did it, and first thing he ask, when he explained what he thought protective sex was, I said do you have a older brother? and he said yeah I'm the baby of nine brothers, I said they taught you about how to have sex huh?, he said yeah,
Cause that was a very old fashioned way, most of the young guys don't do that. So I ask them why and they sort of roll into why they're uhm like I mentioned in the post shift, I'm one of these foreign people, I get it out of the way pretty quick and then he gives me a basis of what to talk about, uhm, and then I put the form aside and we just talk, uhm, but it gives me a basis of where we're going, it's kind of peculiar because after I get to the race, the age, the county and things like that I'll ask them why they're here, and then they'll explain new relationship, status check, unprotective sex, girlfriend cheated on me, boyfriend cheated on me, girlfriend said I should come, da da, whatever they say, and as I'm still going through it, I'm like well, you know, tell me a little bit about it, and they're talking as I'm still looking at the forms and some of my questions are getting answered but I'm getting the form out the way so that I can put it aside and then I, you know, sit there and talk to them. I usually have the form in my lap and I'm facing them.
N: What's the first thing you ask them?
C: Uhm, after we go through the you know the age and all that kind of stuff, I ask them [why...
N: [But when they first walk in the door?
C: I introduce myself, I tell them, I like to explain that, what kind of site we are because some people come there to get some result, I mean get something in hand so I explain what kind of site we are, I explain the difference between our sites, what's confidential, and what's anonymous, uhm, and then I tell them a little bit about the procedure that's going to happen
Right
C: Uhm, you know you're going to have some blood drawn, I tell them about the stickers, that the stickers are the only way we can identify them so that if this isn't something that they want to do or this is something that is not going to fulfill the need that they actually, that they may have also come there for, not just getting the test, but they need something in paper in hand, then they need to know what we can do and what we can't do
N: Uhm.
C: Before they go on. Uhm. Because when I first came on I was with someone who went through the whole thing and when they explained that they weren't going to get something in hand this person was truly disappointed, and went oh no,no,no I got to have something in hand, and uhm, I got the feeling that they felt like if I had known this I wouldn't have sat here and told you all this, so, uhm, I sort of go through it a little bit in the beginning to let them know what kind of site we are so that they're a little more prepared to know that they're not going to get something in hand.
N: Yeah. So, uhm when you get to the age and everything, you get to the reason for testing question? How do you ask that?
C: I say well what brings you in to get tested?, and that's when they usually give me a very
N: And do you, how do you write it down? Do you write it down?
C: I write down exactly what they [say.
[Exactly what they say.
C: [Yeah, and a little, sometimes a little bit more if they give me a little bit more, and that was, that was a habit before we had the back of this sheet..
N: Hmmm. (.) Do you ever feel like the answer people sometimes give to the reason for testing question is uh like a gloss or not really the real reason and then
C: Yeah, but I'll get to the reason.
N: Yeah, ok. How do you?
C: Sometimes it's just the status quo.
N: Right.
C: Status check.
N: Status check.
C: Uh, huh.
N: Yeah. But some people write that.
C: Yeah, I try to get them to elaborate what kind of status check are you getting, uhm, close a window and sometimes the status check is that I just had unprotected sex, that's my status check, so, I get to, I get to that and then I, you know, that's why if, if you ever seen my forms you'll see me go all down there but that was before we had the back, now I go to the back and you know number things and write my concerns and
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