A qualitative study of healthcare providers’ attitudes toward assisted partner notification for people with HIV in Indonesia
Date
2023-01-24
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Health Services Research
Abstract
Background
Assisted partner notification (APN) is recommended as a public health strategy to increase HIV testing in people exposed to HIV. Yet its adoption in many countries remains at an early stage. This qualitative study sought the opinions of HIV health service providers regarding the appropriateness and feasibility of implementing APN in Indonesia where such services are on the cusp of adoption.
Methods
Four focus group discussions totaling 40 health service providers were held in Jakarta, Indonesia to consider APN as an innovative concept and to share their reactions regarding its potential implementation in Indonesia. Voice-recorded discussions were conducted in Bahasa, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed.
Results
Participants recognized APN’s potential in contacting and informing the partners of HIV-positive clients of possible viral exposure. They also perceived APN’s value as a client-driven service permitting clients to select which of three partner notification methods would work best for them across differing partner relationships and settings. Nonetheless, participants also identified personal and health system challenges that could impede successful APN adoption including medical and human resource limitations, the need for specialized APN training, ethical and equity considerations, and lack of sufficient clarity concerning laws and government policies regulating 3rd party disclosures. They also pointed to the job-overload, stress, personal discomfort, and the ethical uncertainty that providers might experience in delivering APN.
Conclusion
Overall, providers of HIV services embraced the concept of APN but forecast practical difficulties in key service areas where investments in resources and system change appeared necessary to ensure effective and equitable implementation.
Description
© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4. 0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdoma in/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Keywords
contact tracing, HIV testing, Indonesia, partner notification, prisoner, good health and well-being
Citation
Levy, J.A., Earnshaw, V.A., Milanti, A. et al. A qualitative study of healthcare providers’ attitudes toward assisted partner notification for people with HIV in Indonesia. BMC Health Serv Res 23, 71 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08943-x