Usability and acceptability of oral fluid- and blood-based hepatitis C virus self-testing among the general population and men who have sex with men in Malaysia

Bibliographic Data

ID19595095
AuthorsHuan‐Keat Chan (0000-0001-6710-7257, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, corresponding author), Xiaohui Sem (0000-0002-4962-9825, FIND, corresponding author), Elena Ivanova Reipold (0000-0003-2872-5161, FIND, corresponding author), Sheela Bai A/P Pannir Selvam (0000-0003-4978-4195, corresponding author), Narul Aida Salleh (0009-0005-5536-7840, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, corresponding author), Abdul Hafiz Bin Mohamad Gani (0000-0002-1261-4179, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, corresponding author), Emmanuel Fajardo (0000-0002-7561-3368, FIND, corresponding author), Sonjelle Shilton (0000-0003-1569-8758, FIND, corresponding author), Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan (0000-0002-7971-1643, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, corresponding author)
EditorsMax Carlos Ramírez-Soto (0000-0003-0471-6746)
Year2024
Volume4
Issue1
Pagese0001770
Publication date2024-01-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePLOS Global Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2767-3375 • E-ISSN: 2767-3375
PublisherPublic Library of Science (PLoS) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1371/journal.pgph.0001770
PMID38170720
OpenAlexW4390547286
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited33

Hepatitis C self-testing (HCVST) is emerging as an additional strategy that could help to expand access to HCV testing. We conducted a study to assess the usability and acceptability of two types of HCVST, oral fluid- and blood-based, among the general population and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Malaysia. An observational study was conducted in three primary care centres in Malaysia. Participants who were layman users performed the oral fluid- and blood-based HCVST sequentially. Usability was assessed by calculating the rate of errors observed, the rate of difficulties faced by participants as well as inter-reader (self-test interpreted by self-tester vs interpreted by trained user) and inter-operator concordances (self-test vs test performed by trained user). The acceptability of HCV self-testing was assessed using an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Participants were also required to read contrived test results which included “positive”, “negative”, and “invalid”. There was a total of 200 participants (100 general population, 100 MSM; mean age 33.6 ± 14.0 years). We found a high acceptability of oral fluid- and blood-based HCVST across both general population and MSM. User errors, related to timekeeping and reading within stipulated time, were common. However, the majority of the participants were still able to obtain and interpret results correctly, including that of contrived results, although there was substantial difficulty interpreting weak positive results. The high acceptability of HCVST among the participants did not appreciably change after they had experienced both tests, with 97.0% of all participants indicating they would be willing to use HCVST again and 98.5% of them indicating they would recommend it to people they knew. There was no significant difference between the general population and MSM in these aspects. Our study demonstrates that both oral fluid- and blood-based HCVST are highly acceptable among both the general population and MSM. Both populations also showed comparable ability to conduct the tests and interpret the results. Overall, this study suggests that HCVST could be introduced as an addition to existing HCV testing services in Malaysia. Further studies are needed to establish the optimal positioning of self-testing alongside facility-based testing to expand access to HCV diagnosis in the country

Environmental health · Family medicine · Interview · Men who have sex with men · Observational study · Population · Usability · Clinical Psychology · Computer Science · Demography · Hepatitis B Virus Studies · Hepatitis C virus research · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Internal Medicine

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