Risk Groups

Abstract

At the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified a number of groups at risk for HIV infection based on the characteristics of the persons known to be affected by this then-mysterious and unknown disease. It later became clear that behavior, rather than presumed commonality of characteristics, was responsible for disease transmission. Accordingly, it is important that mental health care providers counsel their clients regarding behaviors that may increase their risk of becoming infected and the behavioral strategies that they can use to reduce their risk of infection. This is particularly important because clients may be misinformed and believe that because they do not self-identify as a member of one of these initially named risk groups, they are not at risk of the disease.