Estratégias de notificação de parceiros sexuais de pessoas com infecções sexualmente transmissíveis: ensaio clínico randomizado

Abstract

Objective To compare the effectiveness of verbal communication and communication by card in getting sexual partners of people with sexually transmitted infections to attend a health service and the factors associated with the success of these types of communication. Method Clinical, controlled, and randomized study, whose intervention was offering a reporting card for index patients to hand to their sexual partners. Results The sample was 189 index patients, 94 of whom were in the control group, and verbally invited their sexual partners to receive care, and 95 were allocated to the intervention group, and took their partner’s reporting card to their partners as a way to invite them to receive care. The percentage of partners invited by card who came to the service was 52.6%, in contrast with 43.6% among partners who were invited verbally, but no significant statistical difference was found (p=0.215). The factors associated with failure to convince partners to come to the service were: not living with the partner (p=0.0001); not having a steady partner (p=0.0001); having casual partners (p=0.028); and using condoms with a steady partner (p=0.045). The infection type did not influence the studied partners’ visits to the service. Conclusion Given the failure to achieve effectiveness when applying the reporting by card, the authors recommend another card model containing information for partners to be used in combination with other methods. Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry: RBR-7jp5mr.