Patient preferences for partner notification of sexually transmitted infections

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) are a major public health problem. If STI’s are not treated they can cause infertility, long term disability and death. Partner notification and partner treatment have been identified as important aspects of management to curb the chain of transmission, reinfection and complications of STI’s. The high prevalence of STI’s and low partner treatment rate is cause for concern. The ability to communicate with sexual partners about going to the clinic for treatment is the cornerstone in breaking the chain of reinfection and preventing complications. The aim of the study was: • To determine the percentage of patients presenting as a result of partner notification. • To describe the demography of patients attending the STI clinic. • To determine the preferred methods of partner notification from the perspective of being a patient and from the perspective of being a sexual contact/partner. The study is a replication of the study entitled ‘Patient Preferences for Partner Notification of Sexually Transmitted Infections by (Apoola, Radcliffe, Das, et al.,2006:327). ’ The study is a quantitative, descriptive, survey design, and a replicated self-administered questionnaire of the study was used. The sample of 162 patients was taken from a population of about 800 STI clinic attendees over a period of one month at a local public sector clinic in Johannesburg. Data was captured using an excel spread sheet and then were exported to the Stata Release 11 program for analysis. Data was summarized using frequencies, means, and percentages. Reliability, validity and ethical issues were taken into consideration. From the results of the study it became apparent that the majority of STI patients 156(96%) attending the STI clinic under study preferred to inform their partners themselves that the partner may be at risk of an STI and should receive treatment. Furthermore, the participants in this particular study would also prefer to be informed by their partner if they were potentially at risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection. With respect to the demographics of the clinic attendees, the majority of the patients attended the clinic because they presented with signs and symptoms of what they believed to be a sexually transmitted infection (92%), and only 8% of the participants attended the clinic because they were informed by a partner that they have been potentially exposed to an STI. It was identified that 92% of participants did have cellular telephones, and this is potentially a good means of partner notification given that the majority of the research sample had access to cellular telephones. In conclusion the participants in this particular study would prefer to notify their partner themselves of the potential exposure to a STI as opposed to other means of partner notification.