Interventions to Increase Male Attendance and Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections at Publicly-Funded Family Planning Clinics

Abstract

PurposeWe assessed the impact of staff, clinic, and community interventions on male and female family planning client visit volume and sexually transmitted infection testing at a multisite community-based health care agency. MethodsStaff training, clinic environmental changes, in-reach/outreach, and efficiency assessments were implemented in two Family Health Center (San Diego, CA) family planning clinics during 2010–2012; five Family Health Center family planning programs were identified as comparison clinics. Client visit records were compared between preintervention (2007–2009) and postintervention (2010–2012) for both sets of clinics. ResultsOf 7,826 male client visits during the time before intervention, most were for clients who were aged <30 years (50%), Hispanic (64%), and uninsured (81%). From preintervention to postintervention, intervention clinics significantly increased the number of male visits (4,004 to 8,385; Δ = +109%); for comparison clinics, male visits increased modestly (3,822 to 4,500; Δ = +18%). The proportion of male clinic visits where chlamydia testing was performed increased in intervention clinics (35% to 42%; p < .001) but decreased in comparison clinics (37% to 33%; p < .001). Subgroup analyses conducted among adolescent and young adult males yielded similar findings for male client volume and chlamydia testing. The number of female visits declined nearly 40% in both comparison (21,800 to 13,202; −39%) and intervention clinics (30,830 to 19,971; −35%) between preintervention and postintervention periods. ConclusionsMultilevel interventions designed to increase male client volume and sexually transmitted infection testing services in family planning clinics succeeded without affecting female client volume or services.