STI self-testing: ensuring representation and outreach to teens and adolescents in expanded approaches

In our correspondence, we describe the results from a quality improvement survey in a sexual health clinic in North Carolina regarding attitudes and perceptions among adolescents and providers regarding specimen self-collection. We find that adolescents have high levels of acceptability for self-collection and confidence in their ability to self-collection; however, providers expressed hesitation regarding the ability of adolescents to self-collection. Our study shows that while self-collection may provide a way to expand testing access to difficult-to-reach populations, we must ensure that providers are confident in the corresponding results.

Source: Sexually Transmitted Infections - April 18, 2024 Category: Sexual Medicine Authors: DeWitt, M. E., Pabon, V., Vasquez, A., Wenner, J. J., McNeil, C. J. Tags: COVID-19 PostScript Source Type: research