RESEARCH ARTICLE Obtaining Self-Samples to Diagnose Curable Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Systematic Review of Patients ’ Experiences

Background Routine screening is key to sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention and control. Pre-vious studies suggest that clinic-based screening programmes capture only a small propor-tion of people with STIs. Self-sampling using non- or minimally invasive techniques may be beneficial for those reluctant to actively engage with conventional sampling methods. We systematically reviewed studies of patients ’ experiences of obtaining self-samples to diag-nose curable STIs