Physicians’ opinions about partner notification methods: case reporting, patient referral, and provider referral

Background: The United States has relied upon partner notification strategies to help break the chain of infection and re-infection for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Physicians are a vital link in the system of STD control, but little is known of physician opinions about partner notification...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sexually transmitted infections 2004-02, Vol.80 (1), p.30-34
Main Authors: Hogben, M, St Lawrence, J S, Montaño, D E, Kasprzyk, D, Leichliter, J S, Phillips, W R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Contact Tracing
Departments
Endorsements
Female
General aspects
Human infectious diseases. Experimental studies and models
Humans
Infections
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Multivariate Analysis
Original
partner notification
Patients
Physicians
Polls & surveys
Public health
Public sector
Referral and Consultation
Sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases - epidemiology
Sexually Transmitted Diseases - transmission
Standard deviation
STD
Workloads
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Background: The United States has relied upon partner notification strategies to help break the chain of infection and re-infection for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Physicians are a vital link in the system of STD control, but little is known of physician opinions about partner notification strategies. Methods: We collected opinions about partner notification from a national probability sample of physicians in specialties diagnosing STDs. Physicians responded to 17 questions about three relevant forms of STD partner notification: patient based referral, provider based referral, and case reporting. Results: Exploratory factor analyses showed that responses for each form of partner notification could be grouped into four categories: perceived practice norms, infection control, patient relationships, and time/money. Multivariate analyses of the factors showed that physicians endorsed patient based referral most favourably and provider based referral least favourably. Conclusion: Physicians’ opinions about partner notification strategies appear to reflect objective reality in some areas, but not in others. Strategies that improve the fit between physicians’ opinions and effective notification are needed: some are discussed here.
ISSN:1368-4973
1472-3263
DOI:10.1136/sti.2003.004937