Sexual Abstinence & Other Behaviours Immediately Following a New STI Diagnosis among STI Clinic Patients: Findings from The Safe in the City Triala
BACKGROUND:
Few
studies have assessed patients' sexual behaviours during the period immediately
following a new diagnosis of a curable sexually transmitted infection (STI).
METHODS:
Data were
analysed from a behavioural study nested within the Safe in the City trial,
which evaluated a video-based STI/HIV prevention intervention in three urban
STI clinics. We studied 450 patients who reported having received a new STI
diagnosis, or STI treatment, 3 months earlier. Participants reported on whether
they seriously considered, attempted and succeeded in adopting seven
sex-related behaviours in the interval following the diagnostic visit. We used
multivariable logistic regression to identify, among men, correlates of two
behaviours related to immediately reducing reinfection risk and preventing
further STI transmission: sexual abstinence until participants were adequately
treated and abstinence until their partners were tested for STIs.
RESULTS:
Most
participants reported successfully abstaining from sex until they were
adequately treated for their baseline infection (89%-90%) and from sex with
potentially exposed partners until their partners were tested for HIV and other
STIs (66%-70%). Among men who intended to be abstinent until they were
adequately treated, those who did not discuss the risks with a partner who was
possibly exposed were more likely not to be abstinent (OR, 3.7; 95% CI 1.5 to
9.0) than those who had this discussion. Similarly, among men who intended to
abstain from sex with any potentially exposed partner until the partner was
tested for HIV and other STIs, those who reported not discussing the risks of
infecting each other with HIV/STIs were more likely to be sexually active
during this period (OR, 3.5; 95% CI 1.6 to 8.1) than were those who reported
this communication.
CONCLUSIONS:
Improved
partner communication could facilitate an important role in the adoption of
protective behaviours in the interval immediately after receiving a new STI
diagnosis.
- 1Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA Division of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
- 2Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
- 3Center for Health Equity Research, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA.
- 4Rietmeijer Consulting, LLC, Denver, Colorado, USA.
- 5David Geffen School of Medicine and Fielding School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- 6Health and Human Development, EDC, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.
- 7Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
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