BACKGROUND Recommendations about scaling up HIV testing and counseling highlight the need to provide key services and to protect clients' rights, but it is unclear to what extent different modes of testing differ in this respect. This paper examines whether practices regarding consent, confidentiality, and referral vary depending on whether testing is provided through voluntary counseling and t...

This article analyzes the relevance ascribed to counseling for HIV prevention by users of a testing service. The study's main theoretical references were the democratization of discourse as proposed by Fairclough and the disciplinary power and confessional techniques analyzed by Foucault. The research was done from November 2005 to March 2006 at an HIV testing and counseling center in Minas Ger...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the characteristics, demands and expectations of users of an HIV testing and counseling center. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES Qualitative research carried out with 32 users of a testing and counseling center in the state of Minas Gerais (southeastern Brazil), from November 2005 to March 2006. The open semi-structured interview technique was used, as well as an adaptation of t...