Assessing user preferences for sexually transmitted infection testing services: a discrete choice experiment

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Background:

• Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a significant public health concern.
• Understanding user preferences is crucial for optimizing STI testing services and improving uptake.
• Current service targets may not align with patient priorities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate user preferences for various attributes of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing services.
• To identify key service characteristics that influence user choice and satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• A discrete choice experiment was conducted.
• Data were collected from 3358 participants across 14 STI testing centers in East Sussex, England.
• Analysis involved calculating (Adjusted) Odds Ratios (ORs) for preferred service characteristics.

Main Results:

• The most valued service characteristics were 'staff had specialist STI knowledge' (OR 2.55) and 'tests for all STIs' offered (OR 2.19).
• These preferences held true across different demographic groups, including age and sex.
• Preferred methods for results reporting were text or mobile phone calls, and for appointments, 'dropping in and waiting' was favored.

Conclusions:

• User-centered STI testing services should prioritize comprehensive testing and knowledgeable staff.
• Service targets focusing solely on short appointment wait times (e.g., 48 hours) may be misaligned with user priorities.
• Enhancing staff expertise and offering a full panel of STI tests are key to improving service effectiveness from a user perspective.