Acceptability and Feasibility of a Telehealth Intervention for STI Testing Among Male Couples

• Published in: AIDS and behavior Vol. 25; no. 12; pp. 4029 - 4043
• Main Authors: Sullivan, Stephen P., Sullivan, Patrick S., Stephenson, Rob
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acceptability; Bisexuality; Collection; Couples; Diagnostic tests; Feasibility; Gays & lesbians; Gonorrhea; Health behavior; Health Psychology; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Infectious Diseases; Intervention; Males; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Men; Men who have sex with men; Mens health; Public Health; Sexually transmitted diseases; STD; Telemedicine; Telehealth; STIs; Home testing; Male couples
• ISSN: 1090-7165; 1573-3254
• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-021-03173-4

Partnered gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) are less likely to engage in HIV and STI testing. We enrolled 51 male couples from a larger study of home HIV testing to test the feasibility of a dyadic home STI testing intervention delivered via telehealth, consisting of two telehealth sessions delivered via video-chat. In the first session, an interventionist demonstrated the specimen collection kits. In the second session, an interventionist delivered the STI results. Participants reported very high levels of acceptability of the intervention: 92% reported the telehealth calls quality as very good, 99% reported the sample collection instructions were clear, and 96% of respondents returned specimens for collection. 9% of participants tested positive for chlamydia or gonorrhea, and all were linked to care. The intervention has the potential to surmount economic, physical and stigma-related barriers to attending clinics for STI testing, but these results need to be further tested in more diverse samples of male couples.