Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments
Abstract Background There is a need for valid approaches to measure sexual interactions to assess the impact of behavioural interventions and to predict the impact of behaviour changes. Different methods of asking about sexual behaviour often yield conflicting answers and men often report higher lev...
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doaj-0fcbb846d29241159a0b08ed18efc23e2020-11-24T21:21:54ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582018-06-0118111110.1186/s12889-018-5717-xMeasuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instrumentsNicola Desmond0Nico Nagelkerke1Wezzie Lora2Effie Chipeta3Mwiza Sambo4Moses Kumwenda5Elizabeth L. Corbett6Miriam Taegtemeyer7Janet Seeley8David G. Lalloo9Sally Theobald10Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineMalawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research ProgrammeMalawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research ProgrammeMalawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research ProgrammeMalawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research ProgrammeLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineLiverpool School of Tropical MedicineAbstract Background There is a need for valid approaches to measure sexual interactions to assess the impact of behavioural interventions and to predict the impact of behaviour changes. Different methods of asking about sexual behaviour often yield conflicting answers and men often report higher levels of heterosexual activity than women. To better understand self-reported sexual behaviour data and how best to collect it, we analyzed data collected as part of a larger project (ST IMPACTS) on the social and behavioural impact of introducing community-level HIV self-testing (HIVST) with counseling (semi-supervised with pre- and generic post-test counseling provided on delivery or collection of test kits) in an urban Malawian setting. Methods Information on sexual behaviour was collected from HIV self-testers over a three-month period. Three different methods were used: retrospective face-to-face interviews (FTFI); audio computer assisted self-interviews (ACASI) and a prospective coital diary. Both retrospective instruments were used before and after the three-month study period. Frequency and cross-tabulation, as well as scatterplots, were used for exploratory analyses. Chi-square tests were used to test for differences in proportions. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to explore associations between both continuous and ordinal variables and Wilcoxon’s paired sample and Mann-Whitney test was used to test for differences in such variables or between variables. Results There was reasonable agreement between the two retrospective methods although both yielded inconsistent answers e.g. with lower reported numbers of life-time sexual partners at the end than at the beginning of the study period. The diary method elicited higher reported levels of sex with multiple partners than both retrospective instruments which may be due to inadequate recall. Over the study period 37.4% of men and 19.7% of women reported multiple sexual partners using the diary. There was no clear relationship between reported sexual behaviour and HIV status (prevalence 9.6%). Conclusions Diaries may therefore have higher validity for sensitive behaviour reporting and thus be the preferred method in similar African contexts in measuring sexual behaviours.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-5717-xSexual behaviourMeasurementHIV self-testingACASICoital diariesMalawi |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Nicola Desmond Nico Nagelkerke Wezzie Lora Effie Chipeta Mwiza Sambo Moses Kumwenda Elizabeth L. Corbett Miriam Taegtemeyer Janet Seeley David G. Lalloo Sally Theobald |
spellingShingle |
Nicola Desmond Nico Nagelkerke Wezzie Lora Effie Chipeta Mwiza Sambo Moses Kumwenda Elizabeth L. Corbett Miriam Taegtemeyer Janet Seeley David G. Lalloo Sally Theobald Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments BMC Public Health Sexual behaviour Measurement HIV self-testing ACASI Coital diaries Malawi |
author_facet |
Nicola Desmond Nico Nagelkerke Wezzie Lora Effie Chipeta Mwiza Sambo Moses Kumwenda Elizabeth L. Corbett Miriam Taegtemeyer Janet Seeley David G. Lalloo Sally Theobald |
author_sort |
Nicola Desmond |
title |
Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
title_short |
Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
title_full |
Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
title_fullStr |
Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Measuring sexual behaviour in Malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
title_sort |
measuring sexual behaviour in malawi: a triangulation of three data collection instruments |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Public Health |
issn |
1471-2458 |
publishDate |
2018-06-01 |
description |
Abstract Background There is a need for valid approaches to measure sexual interactions to assess the impact of behavioural interventions and to predict the impact of behaviour changes. Different methods of asking about sexual behaviour often yield conflicting answers and men often report higher levels of heterosexual activity than women. To better understand self-reported sexual behaviour data and how best to collect it, we analyzed data collected as part of a larger project (ST IMPACTS) on the social and behavioural impact of introducing community-level HIV self-testing (HIVST) with counseling (semi-supervised with pre- and generic post-test counseling provided on delivery or collection of test kits) in an urban Malawian setting. Methods Information on sexual behaviour was collected from HIV self-testers over a three-month period. Three different methods were used: retrospective face-to-face interviews (FTFI); audio computer assisted self-interviews (ACASI) and a prospective coital diary. Both retrospective instruments were used before and after the three-month study period. Frequency and cross-tabulation, as well as scatterplots, were used for exploratory analyses. Chi-square tests were used to test for differences in proportions. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to explore associations between both continuous and ordinal variables and Wilcoxon’s paired sample and Mann-Whitney test was used to test for differences in such variables or between variables. Results There was reasonable agreement between the two retrospective methods although both yielded inconsistent answers e.g. with lower reported numbers of life-time sexual partners at the end than at the beginning of the study period. The diary method elicited higher reported levels of sex with multiple partners than both retrospective instruments which may be due to inadequate recall. Over the study period 37.4% of men and 19.7% of women reported multiple sexual partners using the diary. There was no clear relationship between reported sexual behaviour and HIV status (prevalence 9.6%). Conclusions Diaries may therefore have higher validity for sensitive behaviour reporting and thus be the preferred method in similar African contexts in measuring sexual behaviours. |
topic |
Sexual behaviour Measurement HIV self-testing ACASI Coital diaries Malawi |
url |
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-018-5717-x |
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