Resum

BACKGROUND: The objective of the study was to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of an online self-sampling intervention for HIV testing and online consultation of the results addressed to gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and trans women users of websites and online dating applications in Spain. METHODS: The website www.testate.org was designed to offer the test, consult the results and collect sociodemographic and behavioral information. This was advertised in: Grindr, Scruff, Wapo, PlanetRomeo, Bakala, MachoBB and Trans4men. After signing the informed consent online, the participants requested the delivery of a saliva self-sampling kit by mail and a postage-paid envelope to send the sample to the reference laboratory. Participants received a reminder by SMS to repeat the test at 3/6/12 months. All reactive participants were called by phone. An anonymous acceptability survey was conducted on all participants. RESULTS: From November 2018 to October 2019, self-sampling kits were sent to 2,548 participants (66.6 % return rate). 1,979 participants (77.7%) had a single test, 412 (16.2%) had two, 137 (5.4%) had three and 43 (2.2%) took four tests. 19.1% resided in cities with <50,000 inhabitants. 24.1% had never been tested. 37.9% had not used condom in their last anal relationship. 28.8% had had an STI in the last 5 years. 54 reactive results were detected (3.25%). All were men. 8 were already known positive, one was a false positive, 33 confirmed their result and 31 were linked to care and started treatment. 97.8% would recommend it to a friend. The most identified advantages were comfort and privacy. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention counted with a high acceptability among the target population. The intervention has been shown to be effective given the high percentages of reactiveness, confirmation and linkage to care observed.