Predictors of time spent on partner notification in four US sites

OBJECTIVE: To identify determinants of time spent on partner notification clients in four STD programmes in the United States. METHODS: 11 disease intervention specialists (DIS) in each of three urban sites (n = 33) and seven DIS in one rural site recorded their activities and clients for 14 working days. The total amount of time for partner notification activities was computed for each client. Data were analysed using random effects regression. RESULTS: Across sites, 429 of 2506 (37.4%) recorded hours were spent on partner notification (PN) activities with 1148 clients. Client type, STD diagnosis, outcome, demographic characteristics, mileage, and study site explained 33.7% of the variance in the total time spent on partner notification clients. Clients who took significantly more time than the reference case included those who were both contacts and original patients, HIV/AIDS clients, non-primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis clients, STD clients who were infected and treated, and clients for whom travel was necessary. Demographic characteristics of both client and worker were not associated with the time spent on partner notification. CONCLUSIONS: These data document the labour intensive nature of partner notification, especially for HIV and non-P&S syphilis clients. STD programmes that have a higher number of these clients are probably dedicating more resources to partner notification. More research is needed on additional predictors so that programmes can better understand and allocate staff and financial resources to partner notification activities.