SEQUENCE Digital: Pre-Trial Studies

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    SEQUENCE Digital - Sexual health equity through evidence-based online clinical care: Pre-Trial Qualitative Studies.

  • IRAS ID

    299331

  • Contact name

    Claudia Estcourt

  • Contact email

    Claudia.Estcourt@gcu.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 10 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are rising. They have a huge impact on people’s lives. Sexual health funding has been cut; online STI testing (self-sampling) is replacing face-to-face care. This could help many people, but others might find it difficult to use, particularly people at greater risk of STIs. We need to understand what helps and hinders people at high risk and how we can best engage them with a range of options for testing, treating and preventing STIs, within inclusive, good-value-for-money services.

    We have developed a new technology, the eSexual Health Clinic, the first NHS service to offer an online automated consultation and ePrescribing in a web-app. It was very successful in treating people with chlamydia in early studies. But we need to improve it to make it as easy to use as possible by the widest range of people

    We will conduct three linked studies to improve the eSexual Health Clinic. We aim to recruit 125 sexual health service patients and 15 sexual health staff from 8 NHS clinics across England and Scotland. Study A involves interviewing people who are from groups which are underserved by existing sexual health services. This study will explore what would make it easier/harder for people to use online sexual health services. Studies B&C will involve people who have recently been diagnosed with an STI or who have a partner with an STI. We will explore (a) what would make it easier/harder to use the eSexual Health Clinic to tell partners about an STI diagnosis and support them to get tested and treated themselves, and (b) what features they would like the eSexual Health Clinic to have. We aim to improve the eSexual Health Clinic to make it even easier to use and accessible to everyone who wants to use it.

  • REC name

    East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    21/EE/0148

  • Date of REC Opinion

    29 Jun 2021

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion