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Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff

OBJECTIVES: Successful implementation of asymptomatic testing programmes using lateral flow tests (LFTs) depends on several factors, including feasibility, acceptability and how people act on test results. We aimed to examine experiences of university students and staff of regular asymptomatic self-...

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Autores principales: Wanat, Marta, Logan, Mary, Hirst, Jennifer A, Vicary, Charles, Lee, Joseph J, Perera, Rafael, Tracey, Irene, Duff, Gordon, Tufano, Peter, Fanshawe, Thomas, Mwandigha, Lazaro, Nicholson, Brian D, Tonkin-Crine, Sarah, Hobbs, Richard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8413471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34475190
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053850
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author Wanat, Marta
Logan, Mary
Hirst, Jennifer A
Vicary, Charles
Lee, Joseph J
Perera, Rafael
Tracey, Irene
Duff, Gordon
Tufano, Peter
Fanshawe, Thomas
Mwandigha, Lazaro
Nicholson, Brian D
Tonkin-Crine, Sarah
Hobbs, Richard
author_facet Wanat, Marta
Logan, Mary
Hirst, Jennifer A
Vicary, Charles
Lee, Joseph J
Perera, Rafael
Tracey, Irene
Duff, Gordon
Tufano, Peter
Fanshawe, Thomas
Mwandigha, Lazaro
Nicholson, Brian D
Tonkin-Crine, Sarah
Hobbs, Richard
author_sort Wanat, Marta
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Successful implementation of asymptomatic testing programmes using lateral flow tests (LFTs) depends on several factors, including feasibility, acceptability and how people act on test results. We aimed to examine experiences of university students and staff of regular asymptomatic self-testing using LFTs, and their subsequent behaviours. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study using semistructured remote interviews and qualitative survey responses, which were analysed thematically. PARTICIPANTS: People who were participating in weekly testing feasibility study, between October 2020 and January 2021, at the University of Oxford. RESULTS: We interviewed 18 and surveyed 214 participants. Participants were motivated to regularly self-test as they wanted to know whether or not they were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Most reported that a negative test result did not change their behaviour, but it did provide them with reassurance to engage with permitted activities. In contrast, some participants reported making decisions about visiting other people because they felt reassured by a negative test result. Participants valued the training but some still doubted their ability to carry out the test. Participants were concerned about safety of attending test sites with lots of people and reported home testing was most convenient. CONCLUSIONS: Clear messages highlighting the benefits of regular testing for family, friends and society in identifying asymptomatic cases are needed. This should be coupled with transparent communication about the accuracy of LFTs and how to act on either a positive or negative result. Concerns about safety, convenience of testing and ability to do tests need to be addressed to ensure successful scaling up of asymptomatic testing.
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spelling pubmed-84134712021-09-03 Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff Wanat, Marta Logan, Mary Hirst, Jennifer A Vicary, Charles Lee, Joseph J Perera, Rafael Tracey, Irene Duff, Gordon Tufano, Peter Fanshawe, Thomas Mwandigha, Lazaro Nicholson, Brian D Tonkin-Crine, Sarah Hobbs, Richard BMJ Open Public Health OBJECTIVES: Successful implementation of asymptomatic testing programmes using lateral flow tests (LFTs) depends on several factors, including feasibility, acceptability and how people act on test results. We aimed to examine experiences of university students and staff of regular asymptomatic self-testing using LFTs, and their subsequent behaviours. DESIGN AND SETTING: A qualitative study using semistructured remote interviews and qualitative survey responses, which were analysed thematically. PARTICIPANTS: People who were participating in weekly testing feasibility study, between October 2020 and January 2021, at the University of Oxford. RESULTS: We interviewed 18 and surveyed 214 participants. Participants were motivated to regularly self-test as they wanted to know whether or not they were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Most reported that a negative test result did not change their behaviour, but it did provide them with reassurance to engage with permitted activities. In contrast, some participants reported making decisions about visiting other people because they felt reassured by a negative test result. Participants valued the training but some still doubted their ability to carry out the test. Participants were concerned about safety of attending test sites with lots of people and reported home testing was most convenient. CONCLUSIONS: Clear messages highlighting the benefits of regular testing for family, friends and society in identifying asymptomatic cases are needed. This should be coupled with transparent communication about the accuracy of LFTs and how to act on either a positive or negative result. Concerns about safety, convenience of testing and ability to do tests need to be addressed to ensure successful scaling up of asymptomatic testing. BMJ Publishing Group 2021-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8413471/ /pubmed/34475190 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053850 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Public Health
Wanat, Marta
Logan, Mary
Hirst, Jennifer A
Vicary, Charles
Lee, Joseph J
Perera, Rafael
Tracey, Irene
Duff, Gordon
Tufano, Peter
Fanshawe, Thomas
Mwandigha, Lazaro
Nicholson, Brian D
Tonkin-Crine, Sarah
Hobbs, Richard
Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title_full Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title_fullStr Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title_full_unstemmed Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title_short Perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for COVID-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
title_sort perceptions on undertaking regular asymptomatic self-testing for covid-19 using lateral flow tests: a qualitative study of university students and staff
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8413471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34475190
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053850
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