Objective To survey the status of counseling services in public STD clinics in Shanghai, and to evaluate the effectiveness of such services provided by trained physicians. Methods Two group discussions and intensive training were held with in 18 physicians from 18 participatory public STD clinics. Standard counseling were provided to all clients by trained physicians.Two hundered and three clinic clients were selected to receive an in-depth interview and 167 of them were followed up with a post-intervention...