Commentary: All is not what it seems: a systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative interviewing tools to investigate self-reported HIV and STI-associated behaviours in low- and middle-income countries.

摘要

Interventions that aim to reduce risky sexual behaviour form the cornerstone of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) prevention strategies in resource-constrained regions. Those working in prevention research need valid measures of HIV and STI reduction when developing and evaluating HIV/ STI risk reduction programmes. 'Biological measures', such as incidence of HIV, are the most convincing indicators of programme impact. However, the large sample sizes required to demonstrate a reduction in incidence may exceed available research resources. 'Observational measures', such as observing used and un-used condoms in sex workers' rooms, have been used to measure sexual risk reduction but can be challenging to implement.1 'Self-report measures' are thus the mainstay of prevention evaluations and most HIV/STI prevention trials include self-reported sexual behaviours as a primary outcome. Research on the validity of self-reported measures is thus of fundamental importance.