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Experiences of Transgender Women Who Used a Dual HIV/Syphilis Rapid Self-test to Screen Themselves and Potential Sexual Partners (the SMARTtest Study)

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Abstract

HIV/syphilis self- and partner-testing may be especially appropriate for transgender women, since they shoulder a disproportionate burden of HIV, other STIs (e.g., syphilis), and report high levels of medical mistrust. The SMARTest study enrolled N = 50 sexual and gender minority individuals. The present analysis aims to understand the experiences (via in-depth interviews) of a subset of n = 11 transgender women who used INSTI Multiplex®, a combination HIV/syphilis rapid self-test, on themselves and potential sex partners. Participants reported that many partners were willing to test, and reported no testing-related violence. Most participants completed tests successfully, though gaining comfort with blood collection took time. There were no HIV-positive tests in this study; one participant and two partners reported a positive syphilis screening. All sought care. Our sample was small and results should be interpreted with caution, but indicate potential future directions for conducting research on self- and partner-testing among transgender women.

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Funding

The first author is supported by a K01 Award (K01 MH115785; Principle Investigator: Christine Tagliaferri Rael, Ph.D.) at the University of Colorado College of Nursing. The second author is supported by a K23 Award (K23MH124569, Principal Investigator: Bryan Kutner, PhD, MPH) at HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the NY State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) and Columbia University (P30 MH43520; Center Principle Investigator: Robert Remien, Ph.D). The research presented in this paper and Dr. Iván Balán, the Principal Investigator, is supported by R01 HD088156. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Colorado College of Nursing, 13120 E. 19th Ave, Education 2 North, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Christine Tagliaferri Rael

  2. HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Bryan A. Kutner, Cody Lentz & Curtis Dolezal

  3. Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Javier Lopez-Rios

  4. Florida State University College of Medicine, Center for Translational Behavioral Science, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Iván C. Balán

Authors
  1. Christine Tagliaferri Rael
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  2. Bryan A. Kutner
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  3. Javier Lopez-Rios
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  4. Cody Lentz
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  5. Curtis Dolezal
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  6. Iván C. Balán
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Contributions

Dr. Rael drafted this manuscript and performed primary analysis duties, Dr. Kutner acted as second coder; Dr. Dolezal put together information presented demographic tables for this manuscript. Dr. Lopez-Ríos and Mr. Lentz were responsible for primary data collection, and verifying transcripts against audio recordings for accuracy. Dr. Balán provided oversite of the project presented and manuscript preparation. All authors listed in this citation contributed to critical revision of this work.

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Correspondence to Christine Tagliaferri Rael.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Research was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

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Prior to participation, all participants provided written informed consent. Participation was voluntary and confidential; any identifying information has been removed from quotes presented in this manuscript to protect confidentiality.

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Rael, C.T., Kutner, B.A., Lopez-Rios, J. et al. Experiences of Transgender Women Who Used a Dual HIV/Syphilis Rapid Self-test to Screen Themselves and Potential Sexual Partners (the SMARTtest Study). AIDS Behav 26, 1229–1237 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03478-4

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