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Sue Vargo, PsyD, Gail Agronick, PhD, Lydia O’Donnell, EdD and Ann Stueve, PhD

Sue Vargo, Gail Agronick, and Lydia O’Donnell are with Education Development Center, Inc, Newton, Mass. Ann Stueve is with Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Sue Vargo, PsyD, Education Development Center, Inc, 55 Chapel St, Newton, MA 02458 (e-mail: svargo{at}edc.org).

We describe a community-based pilot study to boost HIV testing in a minority community through social network recruitment and a noninvasive HIV testing methodology.

Over an 11-month period, the number of test takers at the intervention site increased by 71.7%, and the proportions of test takers with risk factors similar to those of peer recruiters (heterosexual sex and multiple partners) increased by 24.2% and 19.5%, respectively. At a comparison site, testing remained stable, while the proportion of test takers reporting heterosexual sex and multiple partners decreased by 42.5% and 21.8%, respectively.

The use of a social network recruitment strategy in combination with an oral HIV test shows promise in increasing testing and in targeting populations.