Evaluation of a video based health education strategy to improve sexually transmitted disease partner notification in South Africa.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility and impact of a health education intervention promoting partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).


METHODS
The research setting was a busy public health clinic in a rural district in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. A before/after quantitative study design was used to measure the effect of an audiovisual presentation of a compelling love drama, posters, and pamphlets. Measures collected from all consenting STD index patients during a 6 week pre-intervention (control) phase were compared with those collected during a 6 week intervention phase. A qualitative evaluation assessed whether the intervention accurately portrayed the intended educational messages.


RESULTS
150 index patients (55% female) were interviewed in the control phase and 185 index patients (64% female) in the intervention phase. The intervention phase showed improvements on several measures of self efficacy about notifying casual partners, such as a belief among index patients that a greater proportion of their casual partners would see the importance of seeking treatment as a result of their notification interaction. The rate of contact cards returned per index patient was 0.27 in the intervention phase, compared with 0.20 in the control phase (95% CI for the rate difference: -0.05, 0.17). The qualitative research found that the intervention was thoroughly enjoyed by patients and clinicians, but a fundamental problem with it was that patients received confused messages about the relation between HIV/AIDS and other STDs. This has potentially negative consequences for partner notification.


CONCLUSIONS
The intervention needs further development, and then could provide a highly acceptable, cost effective model for health education in clinics in developing countries.
Mathews
C
C
Health Systems Unit, South African Medical Research Council and Department of Public Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Guttmacher
S J
SJ
Coetzee
N
N
Magwaza
S
S
Stein
J
J
Lombard
C
C
Goldstein
S
S
Coetzee
D
D
D000328:Adult; D016358:Contact Tracing; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014743:Videotape Recording