title: A review of the evidence of harm from self-tests.
abstract: Although HIV self-testing may overcome some barriers to HIV testing, various stakeholders have expressed concerns that HIV self-testing may lead to unintended harm, including psychological, social and medical harm. Recognizing that similar concerns were raised in the past for some other self-tests, we conduct a review of the literature on a set of self-tests that share some characteristics with HIV self-tests to determine whether there is any evidence of harm. We find that although the potential for harm is discussed in the literature on self-tests, there is very little evidence that such harm occurs.
authors.affiliation: The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, 1625 Massachusetts Ave., NW Suite 450, Washington, DC, 20036, USA.
authors.forename: Annette N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Eric W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Djimeu
authors.forename: Drew B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Cameron
mesh_terms: D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D012307:Risk Factors; D012648:Self Care; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*