This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 191 HIV positive client's of age above 15rnyears (124 females and 67 males) at three counseling centers in Addis Ababa in May,rn2007 to determine the effect of the client's background, the content of the counselor'srnmessage using the health belief model as a framework, and the counselor's approachrnusing client-centered theory on the outcomes of counseling HIV positive people. Thernstudy has found out that female gender increases the risk of poor interaction with one'srnfamily after HIV diagnosis (OR=.38, 95%C/= .16- .9, p< .05) and male HIV positivernclients were found to be less rejected by others after their HIV diagnosis (OR = .31,rn95%CI= .126- . 745, p= .009). Thirty-two (16.8%) of the respondents reported that therncounselor's message was irrelevant to them, and irrelevant information was found tornincrease feelings of guilt (OR= 2.8, 95%CI= 1.2- 6.4, p< .05). 1ncluding the four keyrnbeliefs of the health- belief model (susceptibility of clients to negative outcomes, severityrnof negative outcomes, benefits of performing specific plans (behaviors), and barriers ofrnperforming specific plans) in the counselor's message minimizes Â·specific negativernoutcomes. No statistically significant association was found between the counselor'srncongruence or respect of the client and the client's counseling outcome. But perceivedrnloss of confidentiality was found to increase the major negative outcome depressionrn(OR= 2.2, 95%CI=1.J3- 5.86, P