International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 18, Number 12 > Pp. 846-850

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Original research articles

Process, efficacy and sample demographics of three approaches to behavioural surveillance for gonorrhoea: case interviews, place surveys, and network studies

Michael W Ross, S M Berman, S O Aral, P E Courtney, J M Dennison, A S Klovdahl, M L Williams and J S St Lawrence

Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Post Box 20036, Houston, TX 77225, USA; Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, USA; Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, USA; Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Post Box 20036, Houston, TX 77225, USA; Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Post Box 20036, Houston, TX 77225, USA; Department of Sociology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia; Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health, University of Texas, Post Box 20036, Houston, TX 77225, USA; Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA, USA

We investigated the process and time required to collect 450 interviews in a project to determine the most efficacious behavioural surveillance approaches to detect changes in gonorrhoea prevalence. In total, 150 respondents were recruited in each method. For each of place surveys (bars), gonorrhoea case interviews, and network studies based on seeds from the case and place interviews, we determined the recruitment rate and process. Urine testing for gonorrhoea and chlamydia took place in the place interviews. We present data from Houston, Texas that illustrate the sample characteristics, recruitment rates, and, where appropriate, infection rates. Data indicate that there was high uptake and a rapid recruitment rate from the place surveys, an intermediate rate from the network studies, and that the gonorrhoea case interviews were the most inefficient accrual method for behavioural surveillance. Sample characteristics and biases in each method are described, and conclusions drawn for the relative efficacy of each method for gonorrhoea behavioural surveillance.

Key Words: GONORRHOEA • SURVEILLANCE • NETWORKS • CASE • PLACE • AFRICAN-AMERICAN

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