What should the ideal HIV self-test look like?: a usability study of test prototypes in unsupervised HIV self-testing in Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2014
TITLE AUTHOR(S): R.B.Peck, J.M.Lim, H.Van Rooyen, W.Mukoma, L.Chepuka, P.Bansil, L.C.Knight, N.Muturi, E.Chirwa, A.M.Lee, J.D.Wellhausen, O.Tulloch, M.Taegtmeyer
KEYWORDS: HIV/AIDS, RISK BEHAVIOUR, SELF-TESTING KITS (MEDICAL), SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, VOLUNTARY COUNSELING AND TESTING (VCT)
DEPARTMENT: Public Health, Societies and Belonging (HSC)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 8265
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/2343
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/2343
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
HIV self-testing (HIVST) is increasingly being sought and offered globally, yet there is limited information about the test features that will be required for an HIV self-test to be easy to use, acceptable to users, and feasible for manufacturers to produce. We conducted formative usability research with participants who were naive to HIVST using five prototypes in Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa. The tests selected ranged from early-stage prototypes to commercially ready products and had a diverse set of features. A total of 150 lay users were video-recorded conducting unsupervised self-testing and interviewed to understand their opinions of the test. Participants did not receive a test result, but interpreted standardized result panels. This study demonstrated that users will refer to the instructions included with the test, but these can be confusing or difficult to follow. Errors were common, with less than 25 % of participants conducting all steps correctly and 47.3 % of participants performing multiple errors, particularly in sample collection and transfer. Participants also had difficulty interpreting results. To overcome these issues, the ideal HIV self-test requires pictorial instructions that are easy to understand, simple sample collection with integrated test components, fewer steps, and results that are easy to interpret.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Realizing the potential for HIV self-testing
- Abstract: Determinants of the use of voluntary counselling and testing services among the sexually active adult population of South Africa
- HIV risk behaviors in sub-Saharan Africa and northern Thailand: baseline behavioral data from Project Accept
- Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) site-based brief HIV behavioural risk reduction counselling for HIV negative and HIV positive clients at HIV counselling and testing sites in Mpumalanga, South Africa
- Advice-giving difficulties in voluntary counselling and testing: a distinctly moral activity
- Integrated strategies for combination HIV prevention: principles and examples for men who have sex with men in the Americas and heterosexual African populations
- Exploring the impact of childhood abuse on HIV social and attitudinal factors among adults with and without this history in sub-Saharan Africa: findings from NIMH Project Accept (HPTN 043)
- The forgotten fifty percent: a review of sexual and reproductive health research and programs focused on boys and young men in Sub-Saharan Africa
- HIV/AIDS and new agricultural strategies for sub-Saharan Africa
- HIV/AIDS in developing countries: heading towards a mental health and consequent social disaster?
- Epidemiology of health and vulnerability among children orphaned and made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
- Intimate partner violence as a factor associated with risky sexual behaviours and alcohol misuse among men
- Towards a definition of orphaned and vulnerable children
- Methamphetamine use and sexual risks for HIV infection in Cape Town, South Africa
- Sexual assault, sexual risks and gender attitudes in a community sample of South African men
- Building resilience: a rights-based approach to children and HIV/AIDS in Africa
- HIV/AIDS risk reduction counseling for alcohol using sexually transmitted infections clinic patients in Cape Town, South Africa
- Disclosure of HIV status to sex partners and sexual risk behaviours amongh HIV-positive men and women, Cape Town, South Africa
- Alcohol use and sexual risks for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review of empirical findings
- Associations of poverty, substance use, and HIV transmission risk behaviors in three South African communities