Optimizing Strategies to Improve STD Partner Services

This is a four-year study involving longitudinal data collection for 800 men and women recruited from four clinics in Brooklyn, NY. Participants were eligible for enrollment at any of the study sites if diagnosed as having C trachomatis or N gonorrhoeae genital infection or if they have an STD syndrome likely to be related to either of these pathogens (i.e., males with NGU). Consenting patients were randomly assigned to receive either standard-of-care patient referral for partner notification (N = 350), a social-cognitive intervention geared toward increasing patient referral (N = 350), or the social-cognitive intervention with an option of patient-delivered medication (N = 100). Evaluation activities include an interviewer administered measure provided at baseline, one month, and six months, a screen for N gonorrhoeae and C trachomatis using urine-based ligase chain reaction screening (Abbott LCx) at baseline and six months, and medical chart abstraction at one and six months.