Purpose

Expedited partner therapy (EPT) is an effective sexually transmitted infection (STI) treatment and prevention practice that allows clinicians to provide treatment to the sexual partner(s) of individuals diagnosed with chlamydia and/or gonorrhea infections without a clinical evaluation. Due to the high incidence of STIs among youth, we sought to understand youth awareness and beliefs about EPT use.

Methods

MyVoice, a national text message survey of youth aged 14–24 years, posed 5 questions on EPT knowledge and perceptions to 1,115 youth in August 2018. Responses were reviewed to identify themes and iteratively develop a codebook. Two reviewers independently coded each question, and a third reviewer resolved discrepancies. Summary statistics were calculated for demographic and thematic analysis.

Results

A total of 835 participants responded to at least 1 question (74.9% response rate). Majority of youth (91.9%, n = 730/794) felt that it would be important to help their partners get treatment if they tested positive for chlamydia or gonorrhea. Although most participants were unaware of EPT (86.4%, n = 657/760), 81.3% (n = 624/768) supported the policy stating that it is “pretty darn convenient.” Youth also noted they would be interested in asking their provider for EPT. Participants opposing EPT (6.9%, n = 53/768) noted that “they [sexual partner] are responsible for their own health” and preferred to “tell my partner to go to [their] doctor.”

Conclusions

Most youth in the MyVoice cohort felt that EPT was a good way to get treatment for their partners, even though the majority were not aware that EPT was available as an STI treatment option.

中文翻译：

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青少年快速伴侣治疗的知识和观点

目的

快速伴侣治疗 (EPT) 是一种有效的性传播感染 (STI) 治疗和预防措施，允许临床医生在未经临床评估的情况下为被诊断患有衣原体和/或淋病感染的个体的性伴侣提供治疗。由于青少年性传播感染的高发率，我们试图了解青少年对 EPT 使用的认识和信念。

方法

MyVoice 是一项针对 14 至 24 岁青年的全国短信调查，于 2018 年 8 月向 1,115 名青年提出了 5 个关于 EPT 知识和看法的问题。对答复进行了审查以确定主题并反复开发密码本。两名审稿人独立编码每个问题，第三名审稿人解决了差异。为人口统计和专题分析计算汇总统计数据。

结果

共有 835 名参与者回答了至少 1 个问题（74.9% 的回答率）。大多数年轻人（91.9%，n = 730/794）认为如果他们的衣原体或淋病检测呈阳性，帮助他们的伴侣接受治疗很重要。尽管大多数参与者不知道 EPT（86.4%，n = 657/760），但 81.3%（n = 624/768）支持该政策，称它“非常方便”。青年人还指出，他们有兴趣向他们的提供者询问 EPT。反对 EPT 的参与者 (6.9%, n = 53/768) 指出“他们 [性伴侣] 对自己的健康负责”，并更愿意“告诉我的伴侣去看 [他们的] 医生”。

结论

MyVoice 队列中的大多数年轻人认为 EPT 是为他们的伴侣接受治疗的好方法，尽管大多数人不知道 EPT 可作为 STI 治疗选择。