Young people’s attitudes to Chlamydia testing were explored through four single sex focus groups conducted with 16–24 year old males and females (n=28), and one with health professionals working with this age-group (n=7). Semistructured interviews discussed barriers to Chlamydia testing, methods of accessing testing, communicating information about Chlamydia and ideas about ways to encourage testing. Young people cited fear, stigma, denial of personal risk, and a lack of knowledge about Chlamydia and about testing procedures, as reasons for not seeking testing. Better education and a need to ‘normalise’ testing were suggested as ways to increase test-uptake. Preferences for places to seek testing varied among participants, but all groups supported routinely offered Chlamydia testing when visiting the doctor for other reasons. Participants also favoured the concept of home-testing.
