Accessing needed sexual health service during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia (BC)
Research theme(s)
Digital Health; Internet Based Testing
Hsiu-Ju Chang, Aidan Ablona, Gina Ogilvie, Travis Salway, Troy Grennan, Jason Wong, Devon Haag, Heather Pedersen, Sophie Bannar-Martin, Geoffrey Ford, Daniel Grace, Catherine Worthington, Mark Gilbert.
CAHR 2021 Virtual, May 5-7, 2021
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic impacts on sexual health services access have not been fully examined. We sought to identify factors associated with unmet sexual health needs and access barriers during BC’s initial phases of the pandemic.
Methods:
An anonymous online survey about sexual health service needs and access was administered from July 21-August 4, 2020 to clients ≥ 16 years old who had visited the BC Centre for Disease Control’s sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic and/or GetCheckedOnline testing service in the year prior to March 2020. We used logistic regression to identify factors associated with unmet sexual health needs (i.e., not accessing needed services) during March–July 2020, and report unadjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals [95% CI].
Results:
Of 1198 respondents, 59% (n=706; median age: 32 years, 71% White, 47% women, 27% men having sex with men only (MSM)) reported needing sexual health services since March 2020, of which 52% (365/706) did not access needed services. Women (OR=1.37 [1.01-1.86]) were more likely to have unmet sexual health needs, while MSM (OR=0.37 [0.23-0.61]) were less likely to. Participants needing routine STI testing were more likely to report not accessing services (OR=2.49 [1.64-3.79]), whereas those needing birth control (OR=0.48 [0.30-0.75]), HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (OR=0.39 [0.22-0.66]), or treatment for a new STI (OR=0.40 [0.21-0.76]) were less likely to report not accessing services. Most common reasons for avoiding/delaying service access were: concern about getting COVID-19 while at or traveling to a clinic/lab (249/689, 36%), public messaging against seeking non-urgent healthcare (239/689, 35%), and closure of usual place of service (182/689, 26%).
Conclusion:
Many existing sexual health service clients in BC did not access needed sexual health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Offering alternative service delivery methods and more nuanced public health messaging may help address the identified barriers to improve access.