Use of social media in sexual partner notification

inSPOT: Partner Notification Service - BC Centre for Disease Control

To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index.

Introduction

See also Clinical surveillance technologies & mashups in public health | Sexual and reproductive health

This entry examines the use of social media in carrying out sexual partner notification in the event of sexually transmitted infection. The idea of partner notification refers to contacting previous sexual partners in order to prevent further spread of a sexually transmitted infection. Online partner notification is also a service where one partner who has tested positive for an infectious agent (a sexually transmitted disease, STD or sexually transmitted infection), contacts a previous sexual partner to notify them about possible exposure. Partner notification can be made by a health care practitioner (who can recommend testing) or by the client him/herself.

Development

In 2000, public health officials in San Francisco began to access dating and casual encounters websites frequented by gay men. The idea was to contact their partners by using the screen names that were given to them by their case patients (screen names were the only way partners could be identified or contacted). Forty-seven (47) of the 97 named partners were successfully contacted and underwent appropriate testing for sexually-transmitted infections. Similar successes in partner notification were seen in other American cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago. Though relatively small in scale, these notification efforts show how the Internet can be used to notify the previous sex partners of social media users who are generally known only by their usernames or email addresses. Partner notification is especially useful for contacting found on social networking sites such as Facebook or cruising sites such as ManHunt (a population with a high prevalence of SDIs and partner rates). Many of these early projects led to the development of ISIS (Internet Sexuality Information Systems) in 2001 described as " ...a nonprofit organization developing technology for promotion of sexual health and healthy relationships, and to prevent disease transmission.... In 2004, ISIS launched INSPOT (Internet Notification Service for Partners Or Tricks) in San Francisco targeting gay and bisexual men.

The partner notification service has since been adopted by other cities, states and countries worldwide.

Pros & cons

Typically, clients are referred to a sexual partner notification service by a health professional when positive test results came back from the lab, or when they are made aware of the service through advertising or word of mouth. Clients access the website, and provide contact information for their intended recipient(s). Messages can be sent anonymously or non-anonymously, and users can exercise the option of adding a personal note. Messages can be sent via short messaging services or email, and will direct recipients back to the website for more information and local resources, such as locations for the nearest STI clinic. From 2004-2008, more than 30,000 cards were sent by INSPOT to previous partners. Despite the possibility of inappropriate use of INSPOT, there were fewer than 10 reported cases of cards being sent in error during this time.

According to Shoveller et al (2012), several pilot programs for Internet-based sexual health services such as online testing and partner notification have shown promising results. As Canadian interventions of this type emerge, research with youth populations can provide relevant insights to help public health officials launch effective programs.

Key websites