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

Abstract

Objectives: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: Recommendations for future self-testing procedures are provided based on findings from free-response data.

Keywords:

• HIV
• sexually transmitted infections
• HIV self-testing
• HIV testing
• men who have sex with men

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of other members of the One Thousand Strong Study Team (Jeffrey Parsons, Tyrel Starks, Ana Ventuneac, Mark Pawson, Ruben Jimenez, Kendell Doyle, Brian Salfas, Brett Millar, Raymond Moody, and Thomas Whitfield) and other staff from the Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training (Carlos Ponton and Kathleen Wallace). We would also like to thank Mindful Designs (Chris Hietikko) and the actors and crew who produced our instructional videos; the staff at Community Marketing Inc. (David Paisley, Heather Torch, and Thomas Roth); and Patrick Sullivan, Jessica Ingersoll, Deborah Abdul-Ali, and Doris Igwe at the Emory Center for AIDS Research (P30-AI050409). Finally, we thank Jeffrey Schulden at NIDA and all our study participants.

Disclosure statement

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. All authors report no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The One Thousand Strong study was funded by a research grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [R01-DA036466; Jeffrey T. Parsons, Christian Grov, & H. Jonathon Rendina, MPIs]. H. Jonathon Rendina was also supported by a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [K01-DA039030; H. Jonathon Rendina, PI]. Additional author support was provided from the National Institute of Mental Health [P30-MH052776, PI: Jeffrey A. Kelly].