Self-efficacy and outcome beliefs for notifying partners for sexually transmitted infections.

What is it about?

Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are on the rise in Ireland and partner notification (PN) is an important public health strategy applied to control the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI), including HIV. PN is the process of notifying, testing and if necessary treating the sexual partner of an individual diagnosed with an STI. PN helps to break the transmission of STIs, identify individuals at risk of infection and protecting against re-infection and complications. However, engaging in partner notification may be influenced by an individuals beliefs regarding the outcomes of PN (outcome beliefs) and their perceived ability to perform the behaviour (self-efficacy) of notifying their partner. This paper examined the role of outcome beliefs and self-efficacy in predicting intentions to notify a partner separately for an STI and HIV diagnosis.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

We have shown for the first time in Ireland that a) self-efficacy is an important factor for predicting PN intentions for a potential STI diagnosis above and beyond outcome beliefs of PN and b) that neither self-efficacy nor outcome beliefs predicted intentions to notify a partner of a potential HIV diagnosis. Understanding that self-efficacy predicts intentions to notify a partner may be of value in designing programmes that promote self-efficacy for the management of individuals' own sexual health behaviours. No relationship was found for either self-efficacy and outcomes beliefs and intentions to notify a partner for a HIV diagnosis. This finding is important as it highlights that future research should differentiate between STIs and HIV when investigating factors that may influence partner notification intentions.

Perspectives