Gay and bisexual men's experiences using self-testing kits for HIV and rectal and urethral bacterial sexually transmitted infections: Lessons learned from a study with home-based testing.
Steven A John, Demetria Cain, Jesse Bradford-Rogers, H Jonathon Rendina, Christian Grov
Author Information
Steven A John: Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Demetria Cain: Department of Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USA.
Jesse Bradford-Rogers: Department of Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USA.
H Jonathon Rendina: Department of Psychology, Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USA.
Christian Grov: Department of Community Health and Social Sciences, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy; The CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health, New York, NY, USA.
This study investigated the experiences of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM) conducting HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) self-testing procedures. We analyzed mixed-methods data from 11 GBM who self-tested HIV-positive and 1,070 HIV-negative GBM who completed the HIV self-testing and STI self-sampling procedures. Nearly all (99%) reported ease in urine-based STI self-sampling and most (90%) found rectal swab self-collection easy. Most (94%) checked their rapid-HIV self-testing results during the correct window (20-40 minutes), and nearly all (99%) trusted their HIV results. Recommendations for future self-testing procedures are provided based on findings from free-response data.
