Abstract

This study explored factors affecting psychologists' prediction of dangerousness and decisions to protect third parties from, clients who are HIV+ or have AIDS and who refuse to disclose their serostatus to an identifiable third party . Licensed psychologists in the state of Wisconsin were randomly assigned to 8 hypothetical clinical case vignettes of a male client which varied by gender of sexual partner and client's diagnosis. In all vignettes the client had an HIV-partner, was diagnosed as HIV+, was unwilling to disclose the serostatus, and was unwilling to practice safe sex. The factors hypothesized to affect psychologists' prediction of dangerousness and decision to protect were attitudes toward AIDS, homophobia and legal concerns. ;Psychologists' personal characteristics, especially their perceptions of the probability of being sued by the client and/or by the client's partner, the psychologists' level of homophobia, and the influence of the client's psychological diagnosis appear to be strongly related to the psychologists' decision to warn/protect identifiable third parties from clients who are HIV+ or have AIDS, and to the use a specific method to protect the third party. The psychologists' level of homophobia as well as the influence of the client's psychological diagnosis, was also found to be a predictor of the psychologists' decision to warn/protect identifiable third parties. In regard to clients' characteristics the client's sexual orientation and the client's psychological diagnosis were related to the psychologists' prediction of dangerousness, the psychologists' decision to protect identifiable third parties, and the specific method used to warn/protect. It appears that the estimation of the probability that the client will engage in high risk sexual behavior was related to the client's sexual orientation . Psychologists estimated that the possibility that the client would engage in high-risk sexual behavior was greater for bisexual clients than for gay or heterosexual clients. The client's psychological diagnosis also had an effect on the psychologists' decision to warn/protect identifiable third parties. Psychologists were more likely to breach client's confidentiality when clients were portrayed as having major depression than with clients having a borderline personality disorder