From AURAH to QuARcS: a cross-sectional pilot study to evaluate the feasibility of a self-administered questionnaire to assess sexual risk behaviors.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In Italy, the information on STIs is being made available by the Ministry of Health but they are limited only to diseases with mandatory notification, namely gonorrhea, syphilis and pediculosis pubis. This system does not have national coverage. In 2017, 75,9% (N 4.854) of STI cases were diagnosed in men and 24,1% (N 1.539) in women. From 1991 to 2017, there was a total of 8.019 new cases of primary and secondary syphilis. Targeted prevention strategies are needed.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of QuARcS was to study the feasibility of a self-administered questionnaire to assess sexual risk behaviors.

METHODS: A cross-sectional self-administrated questionnaire in individuals attending two clinics: Spazio Sessualità e Salute and Centro per la Salute della Famiglia Straniera of the IRCCS Santa Maria Nuova, Italy.

RESULTS: Population recruitment started on October 19, 2020 and ended on January 11, 2021. Due to SARS-CoV-2 impact and the consequential flaw of health care professionals no data was collected at Centro per la Salute della Famiglia Straniera. During this period at least 100 people attended the Spazio Sessualità e Salute clinic, of these, 1 was transsexual and then excluded. In total there were 99 eligible patients of which 27, chosen randomly, consented to participate. Of these 27, 21 were men and 6 were women. The response rate was 27,3% (27/99) for all candidates.

CONCLUSIONS: QuARcS and AURAH could shift the emphasis on more measures of public health policy such as the incorporation of wide-ranging legislation, which would in turn apply to the whole community rather than the individual, by contrast with stand-alone tools which split the research instead of homogenizing it. Different organisms highlighted the necessity of a strong STIs network, hence, QuARcS and AURAH could pave the road to a common framework (e.g., Utstein style for OHCA-IHCA), robust enough to standardize data collection but at the same time flexible enough to pivot on local necessities and differences.

KEYWORDS: #Epidemiology #Health Services #Sexual Risk #Welfare #Gap #Questionnaire