Telephone Counseling to Reduce Recurrent Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infection among High-risk Women Telephone Counseling to Reduce Recurrent Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infection among High-risk Women

Abstract Innovative approaches are needed to reduce recurrent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG). We set out to determine acceptability and feasibility of telephone-delivered counseling for bacterial STI risk reduction. Three counseling sessions were delivered by trained staff supported by a computer-assisted telephone interview protocol used during the phone sessions. After 2 months, enrollees completed an interactive voice response survey, and were asked to mail in urine specimens for STI retesting. We enrolled 14-30 year old women with a recent history of CT/NG (n=24). All participants completed 2 (21% of participants) to 3 phone sessions (79%). At 2 month follow-up, 96% completed phone interviews and 52% mailed specimens for CT/NG testing. Intervention acceptability was high: 88% were satisfied with, and 75% felt that they benefited from, telephone-delivered counseling. A standardized telephone-delivered counseling intervention for STI reinfection prevention was feasible and acceptable in a high-risk population