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How are self-taken samples for chlamydia and gonorrhoea in HIV clinics perceived by patients?
  1. Adam Croucher,
  2. Daniel Richardson,
  3. Tracey Buckingham
  1. Lawson Unit, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Adam Croucher, Lawson Unit, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK; a.croucher{at}nhs.net

https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2015-052339

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    Self-taken samples for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are being offered to asymptomatic patients attending routine HIV appointments to increase STI testing. Women give a self-taken vaginal sample; heterosexual men give a first-pass urine sample, and men who have sex with men (MSM) additional self-taken rectal and throat samples. While there is evidence that self-taken samples are as accurate as clinician-taken samples, and are well-tolerated, the acceptability of self-taken samples in this setting is unclear.1 ,2

    An anonymous survey was offered to all 692 patients attending our outpatient HIV clinic between June and July 2014, of which 121(17.5%) responded. The following data were collected: age; gender; ethnicity; sexual orientation, …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors DR conceived the study. AC and TB designed the questionnaire and carried out the survey. AC processed the data and wrote the manuscript, with all three authors contributing to the writing process throughout.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval This study was conducted as a service evaluation, with a questionnaire taking less than 5 min to complete when attending for routine appointments. There were no interventions and no follow-up conducted. It was optional and anonymous, with no link to identifiers, medical records, clinical interactions or clinical findings.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement The data summarised in the article can be accessed by contacting AC, including the questionnaire proforma, the raw data set, statistical analysis and literature search. There is no additional unpublished data from this study.

    • This study was presented as a poster at BASHH 2015, published in abstract form in STI BASHH abstracts (P110, Sex Transm Infect 2015;91(Suppl 1):A54, 10.1136/sextrans-2015-052126.153).