A comparison of HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes of STD clinic clients in St. Petersburg, Russia and Milwaukee, Wi, USA.

Over the last decade, Russia has experienced alarming increases in rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Most empirically validated HIV-prevention studies have been conducted in the United States or other developed nations and it is unclear the extent to which these techniques may be useful in the different conditions found in Eastern Europe. The present study compared HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes toward condoms, perceived vulnerability to HIV, and attitudes towards HIV testing in samples of 400 Russian and 401 American STD clinic patients. Participants in both samples exhibited knowledge deficits. Overall, Russians had less accurate HIV transmission knowledge, fewer sources of HIV-relevant information, and lower perceived vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. In both countries, a desire to be tested for HIV was related to perceived vulnerability to the disease. American participants were more likely to indicate that they planned to be tested (or re-tested) for HIV in the future (88%) relative to Russian participants (40%). Americans also were more likely to have been tested in the past. Results suggest that interventions designed to work with STD clinic patients are urgently needed but that appropriate intervention strategies may differ from one country to the other, reflecting the more advanced state of the HIV epidemic in the United States vs. the emerging epidemic in Russia.