A Randomized Controlled Trial of an STI/HIV/AIDS Prevention Intervention for Adolescents Attending a Public STI Clinic in Singapore
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 已完成
- 入组人数
- 688
- 主要终点
- Secondary abstinence
研究概览
简要总结
A randomized controlled trial conducted on 688 sexually experienced adolescents, with 337 participants assigned to the routine program, and 351 to the new intervention developed from an assessment of their needs. All participants will complete a self-administered questionnaire and an interview on their knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), self-efficacy, skills in negotiating for sexual abstinence or condom use, and sexual behaviors at baseline and at 6- and 12-months' post- intervention. All will be tested for STIs. Participants in the intervention group will receive 4 individual counseling sessions on STIs/HIV knowledge, life skills, secondary abstinence, safer sex and healthy relationships over 1 year. They will also be referred to counselors for proactive social and emotional support delivered through electronic media and other means. The control group will receive the usual counseling session at first and follow-up clinic visit.
详细描述
The reasons for conducting this study in a clinical setting is threefold.
- This is group of adolescents that has a high risk for transmitting STIs to the community. Prior to this intervention, the investigators did a preliminary study and found a high number of sex partners (median: 4, range: 1-25) and high prevalence of unprotected sex (90%) and STIs (60%) in this group. Other factors in this group that facilitate the transmission of STIs is that 36% continued to engage in unprotected sex and half of the boys (49%) and three quarters of the girls (77%) delayed seeking treatment for more than a week after experiencing symptoms of STIs. The rate at which STIs spread in a population depends upon the average number of new cases of infection generated by an infected person (the basic or case reproduction ratio (Ro). This ratio, in turn, depends upon the efficiency of transmission, (b), the mean rate of change of sexual partners (c), and the average duration of infectiousness (D) as expressed in the form: Ro=b*c*D. Given their high number of sex partners and the long duration of infectiousness owing to their delay in seeking treatment, they would form an important group for spreading STIs to the general population.
- The investigators are able to adopt a rigorous study design, that is, a randomized controlled trial in a clinical setting to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention, and validate self-reported behaviors with laboratory tests for STIs. In contrast, it is less feasible to conduct the study in schools presently because of the sensitivity of the topic, conservative attitudes of parents and possible biases of self-reported sexual behavior in schools. School-based interventions will also exclude school drop outs, who were found in this ongoing study, to be significantly, more likely to engage in sexual activity.
- The investigators have conducted needs assessment of this group and this would help in developing interventions specifically for them. For instance, the investigators found that both males and females lack the confidence of using condoms correctly. The investigators incorporated a session on instilling skills for condom use in our intervention.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Prevention
- 盲法
- Single (Care Provider)
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 16 Years 至 19 Years（Child, Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •Singaporean citizens or permanent residents
- •Sexually active for the past 1 year
- •Heterosexual
- •Attending the clinic for the first time
- •Able to commit for one year in Singapore
排除标准
- •Involved in criminal investigation
结局指标
主要结局
Secondary abstinence
时间窗: 6 months
This is assessed by: "How many times did you have vaginal sex in the last 6 months?"
Consistent condom use
时间窗: 6 months
This is assessed by: "Have you or your partner ever used a condom for vaginal sex in the last 6 months?" in the survey. Participants who gave the answer as 'Yes, always' are categorised as having consistent condom usage; whereas those who gave the answer as "Yes, sometimes", "No, not at all" and "Can't remember" are categorised as having inconsistent condom use.
STI incidence
时间窗: 6 months
Defined as having a positive laboratory test result for a new episode of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, herpes, syphilis or HIV infection at either the 6-month or the 12-month assessment. Both gonorrhoea and chlamydia are detected by testing the urine specimens using Cobas Amplicor Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay. Type-specific serological tests (TSSTs) based on glycoprotein gG-1 and/or gG-2 are used to identify patients with genital herpes. Syphilis is screened using Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) treponemal test. HIV rapid test is performed using the Determine HIV-1/HIV-2 (Abbott) rapid test kit, where results are available in 20 minutes. For those who do not want to wait may opt for the EIA test for HIV infection.
Number of sexual partners
时间窗: 6 months
This is assessed by "How many persons did you have sex with in the last 6 months?"
次要结局
- Success in stopping pressured sex(6 months)
- Confidence in using condoms correctly(6 months)
- Confidence in negotiating for condom use(6 months)
研究者
Wong Mee Lian
Associate Professor
National University of Singapore