Feasibility and Acceptability of a Motivational Interviewing-Based Telehealth Intervention for Bacterial Sexually...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Telemedicine
• Infectious Disease Prevention

Background:

• Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men living with HIV (GBMSM-LWH) face a high burden of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
• Timely diagnosis and treatment are crucial for STI prevention efforts.
• Few studies have combined home specimen self-collection with live audio-video conferencing for STI screening, and none have focused on GBMSM-LWH or incorporated motivational interviewing (MI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility and acceptability of an MI-based telehealth intervention for bacterial STI screening.
• To integrate home specimen self-collection from multiple anatomical sites with live audio-video (AV) conferencing and MI.
• To engage sexually active GBMSM-LWH in bacterial STI screening.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of GBMSM-LWH across the US via dating apps, social media, and peer referral.
• Phase 1: Piloting an intervention with 75 GBMSM-LWH, including pretest AV conferencing with MI, home self-collection of urine, throat, rectal swabs, and blood, and posttest AV conferencing for results and action plans.
• Phase 2: Semistructured interviews with 20 participants to explore attitudes, facilitators, and barriers. Quantitative and qualitative data integration.

Main Results:

• Study procedures were approved in September 2023, with participant recruitment commencing in April 2024.
• Descriptive statistics and progression ratios will be calculated to summarize feasibility and acceptability.
• Thematic analysis of qualitative data will identify patterns in participant experiences.

Conclusions:

• The study is expected to advance the US National Strategic Plan for STIs.
• Key goals include preventing new STIs, accelerating research and innovation, and reducing health disparities.
• The intervention aims to improve STI screening engagement and outcomes for GBMSM-LWH.