Vaginal practices diary: development of a pictorial data collection tool for sensitive behavioral data

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Reproductive Health

Background:

• Intravaginal practices (IVP) are common among women at high HIV risk in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Face-to-face interviews (FTFI) for IVP data may suffer from recall and social desirability bias.
• Daily self-administered diaries offer a potential method to reduce bias in IVP data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the consistency of intravaginal practice (IVP) data collected via daily diaries versus face-to-face interviews (FTFI).
• To assess the potential of daily diaries to reduce reporting bias in IVP data.

Main Methods:

• 200 women in Tanzania and Uganda completed daily diaries for 6 weeks.
• IVP data from diaries were compared with data from FTFI during clinical visits.
• Consistency of reporting between the two methods was assessed.

Main Results:

• In Tanzania, diary data showed higher frequency of cleansing and use of applicators compared to FTFI.
• In Uganda, diary data indicated higher frequency of cleansing (soaps, cloths) and insertion than FTFI.
• Discrepancies between methods were mainly related to frequency and IVP around sexual intercourse.

Conclusions:

• Daily self-administered diaries may improve recall of intravaginal practices (IVP), particularly frequency and timing relative to sex.
• Vaginal practice diaries offer a more detailed understanding of IVP, aiding interpretation of FTFI findings.
• This method can enhance the accuracy of data on behaviors relevant to HIV prevention research.