Evaluation of an Online Partner Notification Program

Abstract

Our data did not support the effectiveness of the inSPOT intervention among a predominantly heterosexual population in a large urban STI clinic.

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of inSPOT and Patient-Delivered Partner Therapy for Gonorrhea and Chlamydial Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men

“…The circumstances of our trial, in which DIS advised persons with STDs about inSPOT, were different from how most people probably find out about the internet site, and consequently may not accurately reflect the site's real world effect. However, our findings, like another recent report, 13 highlight the limitations of what we know about inSPOT and other similar sites, as well as our uncertainty about whether inSPOT has a positive, negative, or no effect on partner treatment and STI control.…”

Traditional and Web-Based Technologies to Improve Partner Notification Following Syphilis Diagnosis Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Lima, Peru: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…In our study, availability of a website that could deliver anonymous notification messages was expected to significantly increase notification among men who would not expect to inform their partners under existing conditions (31). In contrast, previous studies from the U.S. assessing public awareness and actual use of internet PN sites among community-based samples of MSM, as well as male and female visitors to STI clinics, found low levels of penetration into these target populations (32,33). The only RCT data on the effectiveness of web-based PN among MSM comes from an incomplete study in Seattle, Washington that found poor uptake and low levels of acceptability among potential recipients of web-based notification messages (34).…”

Acquired Skills in Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention: Partner Services and Tailoring Interventions to Populations

“…About relationships, transient consensual sexual encounters among partners whose expectations for future contact are low or undefined may lend themselves to a brief and even relatively impersonal notification through a popular and accessible medium (eg, email or instant messaging). More established relationships, as alluded to in Rietmeijer et al, 4 perhaps require more personalized and interactive contact. This broad categorization of relationships may be correlated with sexual orientation or gender, which would then be markers for notification preferences.…”

“…In this editorial, we address a study in which an STD clinic implemented and evaluated the effects of an online partner notification program. 4 The results have led us to write about the role of the intervention, as well as the role of the clinic.If people can find partners online, many of them should be able to either put a disease intervention specialist (DIS) in touch with those partners through the same medium or send an online notification message themselves. In fact, DIS have used email and other electronic methods 5 to contact partners of persons infected with syphilis or HIV, whether the infection occurred with a partner met over the internet.…”

“…In this editorial, we address a study in which an STD clinic implemented and evaluated the effects of an online partner notification program. 4 The results have led us to write about the role of the intervention, as well as the role of the clinic.…”