Reliability of the timeline follow-back sexual behavior interview

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Science
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Accurate self-reported sexual behavior is crucial for effective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention research.
• Traditional assessment methods may lack the reliability needed for detailed behavioral analysis.
• The Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) interview has demonstrated reliability in assessing alcohol consumption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the TLFB interview for assessing HIV-related sexual behaviors and their antecedents.
• To evaluate the test-retest reliability of the adapted TLFB interview for sexual behavior assessment.
• To determine if the TLFB method provides reliable event-level data for HIV prevention research.

Main Methods:

• Adapted the TLFB interview to capture HIV-related sexual behaviors and related factors.
• Administered the TLFB interview to 110 participants.
• Assessed test-retest reliability by re-interviewing 58 participants after one week, using intraclass correlations and bootstrapping for analysis.

Main Results:

• The adapted TLFB interview demonstrated high test-retest reliability for all assessed sexual behaviors (intraclass correlations ranging from .86 to .97, median .96).
• Reliability was consistent across the three-month assessment period.
• The reliability of the TLFB method was equivalent to conventional single-item assessment questions.

Conclusions:

• The TLFB sexual behavior interview is a reliable tool for collecting event-level data over three months.
• This method offers valuable, reliable information for advancing sexual behavior and HIV-prevention research.
• The TLFB protocol enhances the accuracy of self-reported sexual behavior data in research settings.