Perspectives and experiences of Zambian pregnant and postpartum women receiving two intervention models to increase uptake of male partner HIV testing

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant demographic characteristics.

	Control Arm (20)	Intervention Arm (22)
Age
18–24	4	9
25 and above	16	13
Highest education level completed
Primary school	9	6
Secondary school	8	14
Tertiary education	3	2
Marital status
Married	18	20
Single	2	2
Employment status
Employed (full- or part-time)	3	4
Homemaker	1	9
Unemployed/other	5	9
Pregnant/breastfeeding
Pregnant	20	17
Breastfeeding	0	5
Number of living children
0–2	16	16
Above 3	4	6
HIV Status
HIV Positive	12	10
HIV Negative	8	12
How long have you been taking ARVs
Less than 1 year	8	6
1 year and above	4	4

Table 2. Control vs intervention by positive vs negative experiences.

	Positive experiences	Negative experiences
Experiences in the control group	Partner notification services helped them open up discussion HIV testing and influence their partners to test for HIV Partner notification services created an opportunity to disclose their HIV status	Some women found it difficulty to engage the partners for fear of partner’s reaction and belief that their partners would not listen to women. Some male partners refused to go for HIV testing at the facility due to time constraints. Discussing HIV testing created tension and conflict among some couples Some HIV positive women avoided discussing HIV testing for fear of retribution Some male partners to HIV positive women refused to go an HIV test because they did not show any symptoms of HIV infection
Experiences in the intervention group	Partner notification services + HIVST kits were a stimuli to discussion about HIV testing HIVST kits made it ease to testing for HIV at their time and location of convenience, HIVST kits helped men with busy schedule who can't access facility-based HIV testing HIVST kits addresses concerns on privacy, confidentiality and stigma Use of HIVST ST provided an opportunity to disclose HIV status.	Some participants had difficulties to negotiate because their partners did not feel women were qualified to test. Some partners got upset when told to test with HIVST. Some HIV participants feared of disclosing their HIV status due to fear of retribution from partners in case of HIV discordance result. Male partners would not seeking confirmatory testing or linkage to care.

Data availability statement

Transcripts from this study are only available upon request from the corresponding author at [email protected].