This semester has helped me grow immensely as a researcher. I am still working with the Check It project, which offers free testing and and treatment for chlamydia and gonorrhea. The project specifically offers services to African American men in Orleans Parish, aged 15-24. In addition to the free testing and treatment, the project is studying Expedited Partner Therapy (EPT). During EPT, an index patient is given extra prescriptions or medications to deliver to their sex partner(s). This allows their sex partner(s) to receive treatment without ever going to a health care provider for testing and diagnosis of chlamydia. EPT reduces the risk of repeated chlamydia infection, increases rates of partner treatment, and is a cost-effective method.
For nearly a year now, I have been helping to transcribe interviews with the Check It participants about their experiences with Check It and with EPT as a means of treatment. Dr. Alyssa Lederer and I are working hard on a paper to identify facilitators and barriers to EPT in Check It participants. This semester I preliminarily coded the interviews to help formulate a codebook. Using this preliminary codebook, I have identified preliminary facilitators and barriers to EPT!
Next semester I will finalize the codebook, code the interviews to identify major themes using NVivo, use major themes to identify facilitators and barriers to EPT and make recommendations for future research and practice, and help Dr. Lederer write an academic research paper.
I am so excited to continue forward with the Check It project!