Background: Public health approaches to sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention in resource-limited countries rely on patients to self-notify sex partners of their STI. However, a majority of partners go uninformed and remain untreated and infectious.
Methods: Anonymous surveys collected from 776 men and women receiving STI clinic services in Cape Town, South Africa.
Results: Half of patients surveyed intended to inform their partners, while half did not intend to notify partners. Women were more likely than men to intend to notify their partners. Patients who completed formal education were also more likely to indicate intentions to notify partners. There were no associations between numbers of partners patients had or partner types with intentions to notify partners. Among both men and women, concerns about adverse partner reactions were associated with intentions not to notify partners. Multivariable analyses stratified by gender and controlling for confounds showed that intentions to notify partners were significantly related to men's concerns that their partner could react violently against them and women's concerns that their partner may leave them and refuse to see them again.
Conclusions: Interventions that assist patients to develop strategies to safely inform their partners are needed to increase patient-initiated partner notification.
Keywords: health promotion; psychological determinants; sexual behavior.
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