Table 2.

Themes for making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions

Making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions
Benefits	Risks or Harms
Theme : Destigmatizes HIV testing	Theme : Ignores exceptional nature of HIV
Sub-theme : Destigmatizes who is at risk and removes stereotypes about risk	Sub-theme : Leads to persistence of stigma and adverse social, societal problems
Theme : Leads to positive downstream affects
	Sub-theme : Underestimates gravity of HIV diagnosis
Sub-theme : Identifies more HIV infections
	Sub-theme : Falsely equates HIV with other sexually transmitted diseases
Sub-theme : Increases testing utilization
	Sub-theme : Downplays significance of HIV in society
Sub-theme : Identifies people earlier in infection
	Theme : Leads to potential for poor or cavalier implementation of HIV testing recommendations
Sub-theme : Promotes view of HIV as a treatable, chronic condition
	Theme : Promotes screening by inadequately prepared clinicians
	Theme : Encourages unneeded, superfluous testing
Sub-theme : Gives an understanding of the true extent of the HIV epidemic	Theme : Fails to individualize screening
	Theme : Creates conflicts in physician-patient relationships
Sub-theme : Improves public health
Theme : Facilitates HIV testing
Sub-theme : Increases provider comfort in offering HIV screening
Sub-theme : Increases patient comfort in being tested for HIV
Sub-theme : Encourages other medical/public health groups to recommend routine HIV screening
Sub-theme : May lead to third-party insurers to pay for routine HIV screening
Sub-theme : Streamlines HIV testing process for providers
Sub-theme : Increases patient comfort in being tested for HIV
Sub-theme : Makes testing more convenient and accessible for patients
Theme : Promotes view of HIV testing as a routine part of maintaining health
Theme : Eliminates HIV exceptionalism
Theme : Eliminates the assumptions about risk for HIV and associated stereotypes
Theme : Normalizes HIV testing in comparison to other screening tests
Theme : Engenders belief that HIV screening is a part of maintaining good health
How does making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions fulfill responsibilities to patients?	How does making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions violate responsibilities to patients?
Theme : Conducts necessary screening for maintaining and promoting health
	Theme : Violates obligation to assess patient’s emotional health and safety before testing
Theme : Obtains more information about patient’s health and health needs
	Theme : Ignores exceptional nature of HIV
Theme : Identifies unrecognized HIV infections and facilitates linkage to care
Theme : Facilitates HIV testing
Theme : Facilitates harm and risk reduction to patients and their contacts
How does making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions respect patients’ rights?	How does making HIV screening similar to screening for other treatable medical conditions violate patients’ rights?
Theme : Incorporates a process into good, standard clinical care	Theme : Creates a potential for poor or cavalier implementation of HIV testing recommendations
Theme : Leads to increased testing, which has positive downstream effects
Theme : Reduces stigma