The Impact of Rapid HIV Home Test Use with Sexual Partners on Subsequent Sexual Behavior Among Men Who have Sex with Men

Balán, Iván C.; Carballo‐Diéguez, Alex; Frasca, Timothy; Dolezal, Curtis; Ibitoye, Mobolaji

doi:10.1007/s10461-013-0497-x

Cited by 45 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…Doing so will be his choice. He may also derive a benefit from it; one study analysed the use of HIV self-testing kits in this manner among high-risk MSM, and concluded that it reduced HIV transmission 34. It must always be remembered that the gateway to HIV prevention and effective HIV treatment is testing.…”

Section: Novel Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical implications of HIV self-testing

Youngs

Hooper

2015

J Med Ethics

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In April 2015, the first legally approved HIV self-testing kit went on sale in the UK-except Northern Ireland where they remain illegal. These tests allow individuals to test their HIV status and read the result in the privacy of their own home, much like a home pregnancy test. This paper explores the ethical implications of HIV self-testing. We conclude that there are no strong ethical objections to self-testing being made widely available in the UK. Pretest counselling for an HIV test is not an ethical necessity, and self-testing has the potential to increase early diagnosis of HIV infection and thus improve prognosis and reduce ongoing transmission. Self-testing kits might also empower people and promote autonomy by allowing people to dictate the terms on which they test their HIV status. We accept that there are some potential areas of concern. These include the possibility of user error with the tests, and the concern that individuals may not present to health services following a reactive result. False negatives have the potential to cause harm if the 'window period' is not understood, and false positives might produce psychological distress. There is, however, little evidence to suggest that self-testing kits will cause widespread harm, and we argue that the only way to properly evaluate whether they do cause significant harm is to carefully evaluate their use, now that they are available on the market.

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Section: Novel Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethical implications of HIV self-testing

Youngs

Hooper

2015

J Med Ethics

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“…With access to self-testing kits, over 50% reported a change in their attitudes and/or behaviors, including a greater awareness of risk and more discussion of safe sex practices with partners 38. Participants also reported a change in choice of partners and in seven instances when a potential partner tested positive by a rapid HIV test kit, the sexual encounter stopped; more than one-half of the participants also ended sexual encounters when an HIV rapid test was refused by a sex partner 39. No sexual intercourse took place after a positive test, indicating that “point-of-sex” testing can lead to increased awareness of risk and can avert sex between discordant partners 40.…”

Section: Arguments For Hiv Self-testing: Accessibility; Accuracy; Empmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arguments for and against HIV self-testing

Wood¹,

Ballenger²,

Stekler³

2014

HIV

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Approximately 60% of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals are unaware of their infection, and stigma and discrimination continue to threaten acceptance of HIV testing services worldwide. Self-testing for HIV has garnered controversy for years and the debate reignited with the approval of a point-of-care test for over-the-counter sale in the US in 2012. Here, we present arguments for and against HIV self-testing. The case in support of HIV self-testing contends that: the modality is highly acceptable, especially among the most at-risk individuals; self-testing empowers users, thus helping to normalize testing; and mutual partner testing has the potential to increase awareness of risk and avert condomless sex between discordant partners. Arguments against HIV self-testing include: cost limits access to those who need testing most; false-negative results, especially during the window period, may lead to false reassurance and could promote sex between discordant partners at the time of highest infectivity; opportunities for counseling, linkage to care, and diagnosis of other sexually transmitted infections may be missed; and self-testing leads to potential for coercion between partners. Research is needed to better define the risks of self-testing, especially as performance of the assays improves, and to delineate the benefits of programs designed to improve access to self-test kits, because this testing modality has numerous potential advantages and drawbacks.

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“…The home HIV test -now licensed in the USA and the UK -is maybe the apotheosis of this productive, but perhaps troubling, mix of biomedical authority and sexaffirmative politics. Researchers have provided gay men in NYC with rapid home testing kits (Balan et al 2014) and asked them to report back on how they used the technology to make decisions regarding anal sex and condoms. Findings suggest that the technology is used to sero-sort out of sexual encounters -with or without condoms -gay men with HIV, among other effects.…”

Section: From Managed Consumerism To the Clinic Without Wallsmentioning

confidence: 99%

After the clinic? Researching sexual health technology in context

Davis

2014

Culture, Health & Sexuality

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There is great interest in what testing, pharmaceutical, information and social media technology can do for sexual health. Much programmatic and research activity is focused on assessing how these technologies can be used to best effect. Less obvious are analyses that place technology into historical, political and real-world settings. Developing an 'in-context' analysis of sexual health technology, this paper draws on interviews with leading community advocates, researchers and clinicians in Australia, Canada and the UK and looks across examples, including social media, rapid HIV testing, pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV and polymerase chain reaction Chlamydia testing. The analysis is framed by studies of techno-society and the dialectics of sex-affirmative advocacy with biomedical authority and attends to: the rationalistic and affective dimensions of the imaginary associated with technology; the role of technology in the re-spatialisation and re-temporalisation of the sexual health clinic; and the re-invention of technology in its real-world contexts. This in-context approach is important for: the effective implementation of new technology; strengthening the social science contribution to the field; and enriching social theory in general on life in techno-societies.

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The Impact of Rapid HIV Home Test Use with Sexual Partners on Subsequent Sexual Behavior Among Men Who have Sex with Men

Cited by 45 publications

References 27 publications

Ethical implications of HIV self-testing

Ethical implications of HIV self-testing

Arguments for and against HIV self-testing

After the clinic? Researching sexual health technology in context

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