Focus Group Discussion Guide

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OMB No. 0920-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Evaluation of Free Rapid HIV self-testing in MSM (eSTAMP)

Attachment 3i

Focus Group Discussion Guides

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Focus Group Guide for HIV-Negative Trial Participants Randomized to Intervention Arm

For men who DID NOT order additional HIV test kits

I would like to thank you all for coming to this focus group. Emory University and MANILA Consulting Group, Inc. are conducting the study, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My name is __________ and I am conducting these discussion groups as part of a research project on home HIV testing among men who have sex with men. The research will be conducted in Atlanta, Chicago and New York City. We are conducting this research to identify your experiences of participating in the recent study on home-testing. During the discussion _________ will be taking notes and reminding me if I forget to ask something. However, so that he does not have to worry about getting every word down on paper we will also be tape recording the whole session. Please do not be concerned about this, our discussion will remain completely PRIVATE and will ONLY be used for this research project. Because we don’t want to miss anything it is important that only one person talks at a time. Remember, we want to hear as many different points of view as possible, so feel free to disagree with everyone else and share your own opinions. As we are tape recording the discussion we ask that people refrain from using names or identifying information. We would like you all to have the chance to express your opinions, so please let everyone have their say. If at any time during the discussion you feel uncomfortable you are free to leave. Are there any questions before we start? Let us begin…

1. I would like to start by talking about the decision to participate in the recent study. What influenced your decision to participate in the study?

2. Before the study, had you heard of home HIV testing? What did you know about it before the study? How has your view of home testing changed during the study?

3. To what extent was the ability to test for HIV at home an important part of your decision to participate in the study?

4. I want to now talk about your experiences in the study. Did you use any test kit that we sent you at the beginning of the study?

For those of you who used the test kits, Which test did you use? Probe: OraQuick or SureCheck.

What was the experience like for you? How was the experience of home-testing different from how you tested for HIV in the past?

Did you inform anyone that you were home testing for HIV? Who did you tell? Why did you tell that person? Did you share the results from the home test with anyone? Who did you share them with?

Did any of you have someone with you when you did the test? Who was there with you? (e.g. friend, family member) What were the reasons someone was there?

Did you call the phone support service? How was your experience?

For those of you that did not use the test kits, what were the reasons you did not use the test kits?

5. One of things we learned is that some men did not order additional test kits during the study. If you did not order additional test kits during the study, what were the reasons you decided not to order kits? Probe for: negative experience with first set of test kits, worries about home testing, privacy, faith in test results, fear of side effects, need for counseling, hassles with ordering, etc

6. Had any of you tested for HIV before the study? Did your previous experience of HIV testing influence your decision not to order additional test kits?

7. Do you think that having a home test kit available would influence with who and how you have sex? Did anyone decide to change what kind of sex they had or who they had sex with based on their test results? Please give us an example of what you did differently.

8. Were you worried at all about harmful effects of home testing? What would these harmful effects be? What do you think are the negative things that could happen with a home test?

9. What are the benefits of home testing for HIV?

10. Would you be willing to use home test kits in the future? Why or why not? What would need to be changed or improved? Would you replace your regular testing with a home test? Why or why not?

11. Is there anything else about the home test kits or your experience with them that we haven’t covered so far that you would like to add?

That brings our discussion to an end. I would like to thank you all for your participation, and ask if any of you have any questions for us. Thank you for your time.

Focus Group Guide for HIV-Negative Trial Participants Randomized to Intervention Arm

For men who tested themselves and ordered additional HIV test kits but did not distribute any test kits to others

I would like to thank you all for coming to this focus group. Emory University and MANILA Consulting Group, Inc. are conducting the study, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My name is __________ and I am conducting these discussion groups as part of a research project on home HIV testing among men who have sex with men. The research will be conducted in Atlanta, Chicago and New York City. We are conducting this research to identify your experiences of participating in the recent study on home-testing. During the discussion _________ will be taking notes and reminding me if I forget to ask something. However, so that he does not have to worry about getting every word down on paper we will also be tape recording the whole session. Please do not be concerned about this, our discussion will remain completely PRIVATE and will ONLY be used for this research project. Because we don’t want to miss anything it is important that only one person talks at a time. Remember, we want to hear as many different points of view as possible, so feel free to disagree with everyone else and share your own opinions. As we are tape recording the discussion we ask that people refrain from using names or identifying information. We would like you all to have the chance to express your opinions, so please let everyone have their say. If at any time during the discussion you feel uncomfortable you are free to leave. Are there any questions before we start? Let us begin…

1. I would like to start by talking about the decision to participate in the recent study. What influenced your decision to participate in the study?

2. Before the study, had you heard of home HIV testing? What did you know about it before the study? How has your view of home testing changed during the study?

3. To what extent was the ability to test for HIV at home an important part of your decision to participate in the study?

4. I want to now talk about your experiences in the study. How many of you ordered additional home testing kits? Which test kits did you order? How many kits did you order? How many did you use? Probe for the reasons why X were ordered and for why X were used.

5. For those of you who ordered and used additional test kits, let’s talk about how they were used. How soon after the kit arrived did you use it? Where and when did you use it? Probe for the decision making process – why did they decide to test at that time? What was testing at home (or wherever they tested) like for you?

6. Did you inform anyone that you were home testing for HIV? Who did you tell? Why did you tell that person? Did any of you have someone with you when you did the test? Who was there with you? (e.g. friend, family member) What were the reasons someone was there?

7. Did you share the results from the home test with anyone? Who did you share them with? Did you call the phone support service? How was your experience?

8. Had any of you tested for HIV before the study? How do you usually get tested? Was the experience of home-testing different from how you tested for HIV in the past? In what way? Would you replace how you usually get tested for HIV with a home test? Why? Why not?

9. Did any of you use your test kits to test other people? Why did you choose not to test other people?

10. What do you think your sex partner’s reaction would be if you asked them to have a home HIV test? Were you worried about: violence, rejection, suspicion of your own HIV status?

10. Do you think that having a home test kit available influenced with who and how you had sex? Did anyone decide to change what kind of sex they had or who they had sex with based on their test results? Please give us an example of what you did differently.

11. Were you worried at all about harmful effects of home testing? What would these harmful effects be? What do you think are the negative things that could happen with a home test?

12. What are the benefits of testing at home?

13. Would you be willing to use home test kits again in the future? Why or why not? What would need to be changed or improved?

14. Is there anything else about the home test kits or your experience with them that we haven’t covered so far that you would like to add?

That brings our discussion to an end. I would like to thank you all for your participation, and ask if any of you have any questions for us. Thank you for your time.

Focus Group Guide for HIV-Negative Trial Participants Randomized to Intervention Arm

For men who tested themselves and ordered additional HIV test kits and distributed test kits to others

I would like to thank you all for coming to this focus group. Emory University and MANILA Consulting Group, Inc. are conducting the study, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My name is __________ and I am conducting these discussion groups as part of a research project on home HIV testing among men who have sex with men. The research will be conducted in Atlanta, Chicago and New York City. We are conducting this research to identify your experiences of participating in the recent study on home-testing. During the discussion _________ will be taking notes and reminding me if I forget to ask something. However, so that he does not have to worry about getting every word down on paper we will also be tape recording the whole session. Please do not be concerned about this, our discussion will remain completely PRIVATE and will ONLY be used for this research project. Because we don’t want to miss anything it is important that only one person talks at a time. Remember, we want to hear as many different points of view as possible, so feel free to disagree with everyone else and share your own opinions. As we are tape recording the discussion we ask that people refrain from using names or identifying information. We would like you all to have the chance to express your opinions, so please let everyone have their say. If at any time during the discussion you feel uncomfortable you are free to leave. Are there any questions before we start? Let us begin…

1. I would like to start by talking about the decision to participate in the recent study. What influenced your decision to participate in the study?

2. Before the study, had you heard of home HIV testing? What did you know about it before the study? How has your view of home testing changed during the study?

3. To what extent was the ability to test for HIV at home an important part of your decision to participate in the study?

4. I want to now talk about your experiences in the study. How many of you ordered additional home testing kits? Which test kits did you order? How many kits did you order? How many did you use? Probe for the reasons why X were ordered and for why X were used. How many did you give away? Probe for the reasons why X were ordered and for why X were given away.

5. For those of you who ordered and used additional test kits, let’s talk about how they were used. How soon after the kit arrived did you use it? Where and when did you use it? Probe for the decision making process – why did they decide to test at that time? What was testing at home (or wherever they tested) like for you?

6. Did you inform anyone that you were home testing for HIV? Who did you tell? Why did you tell that person? Did any of you have someone with you when you did the test? Who was there with you? (e.g. friend, family member) What were the reasons someone was there?

7. Did you share the results from the home test with anyone? Who did you share them with? Did you call the phone support service? How was your experience?

8. Had any of you tested for HIV before the study? How do you usually get tested? Was the experience of home-testing different from how you tested in the past? In what way? Would you replace how you usually get tested for HIV with home testing? Why? Why not?

9. For those of you who ordered and gave away test kits, let’s talk about your experiences. Who did you give the additional test kits to? Why did you give kits to those people? How did they react? Did they use the test kit? Did you help them use the test kit?

10. Did any of you use your test kits to test other people? Who did you test? Why did you test that person? How did they react?

11. Do you think that you would test sex partners with a home HIV test in the future? Why? Why not?

12. Do you think that having a home test kit available influenced who and how you had sex? Did anyone decide to change what kind of sex they had or who they had sex with based on their test results? Please give us an example of what you did differently.

13. Were you worried at all about harmful effects of home testing? What would these harmful effects be? What do you think are the negative things that could happen with a home test?

14. What are the benefits of testing at home?

15. Would you be willing to use home test kits again in the future? Why or why not? What would need to be changed or improved?

16. Is there anything else about the home test kits or your experience with them that we haven’t covered so far that you would like to add?

That brings our discussion to an end. I would like to thank you all for your participation, and ask if any of you have any questions for us. Thank you for your time.