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Daily Short Message Service Surveys to Measure Sexual Behavior and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Use Among Kenyan Men and Women

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Abstract

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a novel HIV prevention strategy which requires high adherence. We tested the use of daily short message service (i.e., SMS/text message) surveys to measure sexual behavior and PrEP adherence in Kenya. Ninety-six HIV-uninfected adult individuals, taking daily oral PrEP in a clinical trial, received daily SMS surveys for 60 days. Most participants (96.9 %) reported taking PrEP on ≥80 % days, but 69.8 % missed at least one dose. Unprotected sex was reported on 4.9 % of days; however, 47.9 % of participants reported unprotected sex at least once. Unprotected sex was not correlated with PrEP use (OR = 0.95). Participants reporting more sex were less likely to report PrEP non-adherence and those reporting no sex were most likely to report missing a PrEP dose (adjusted OR = 1.87). PrEP adherence was high, missed doses were correlated with sexual abstinence, and unprotected sex was not associated with decreased PrEP adherence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the study participants, Partners PrEP Study staff in Thika, Kenya, and our technical partner Dimagi for all their time and efforts. The National Institutes of Health (R21 NR012663) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Grant OPP47674) provided financial support for this study. KC was a scholar in the International AIDS Research and Training Program, supported by the Fogarty International Center (D43 TW000007), and in the University of Washington STD/AIDS Research Training Program (T32 AI007140).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Kathryn Curran, Connie Celum & Jared M. Baeten

  2. Department of Global Health, University of Washington, 325 Ninth Avenue, Box 359927, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Kathryn Curran, Nelly R. Mugo, Ann Kurth, Kenneth Ngure, Renee Heffron, Deborah Donnell, Connie Celum & Jared M. Baeten

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Connie Celum & Jared M. Baeten

  4. School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Ann Kurth

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya

    Nelly R. Mugo

  6. College of Nursing, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Ann Kurth

  7. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya

    Kenneth Ngure

  8. Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Deborah Donnell

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  1. Kathryn Curran
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  2. Nelly R. Mugo
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  3. Ann Kurth
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  4. Kenneth Ngure
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  6. Deborah Donnell
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  7. Connie Celum
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  8. Jared M. Baeten
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Correspondence to Kathryn Curran.

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Curran, K., Mugo, N.R., Kurth, A. et al. Daily Short Message Service Surveys to Measure Sexual Behavior and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Use Among Kenyan Men and Women. AIDS Behav 17, 2977–2985 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0510-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0510-4

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