Partner Delivered Patient Therapy (PDPT): If it's offered, will they take it?

The CDC recommends certain patients deliver sexually transmitted disease treatment to their partners. Such Partner Delivered Patient Therapy (PDPT), a part of Expedited Partner Services (EPS), may be an effective alternative to traditional approaches to disease control and prevention and represents a logical extension of presumptive treatment. PDPT comprises at least two consumer behaviors: (1) patient willingness to deliver medicine (delivery) and (2) partner willingness to take it (acceptance).

505 participants aged 18-47 completed a nationally distributed public-approach survey of intentions, attitude, perceived norm, perceived control, and specific behavioral, normative, and control beliefs (delivery version, n=258; acceptance version, n=247). Zero-order correlations and multivariate statistics were used to generate psychosocial models and examine the influence of participant characteristics.

A large majority of individuals would engage in PDPT delivery and acceptance. The resulting models (Adj.R²>.70) indicate intentions were most closely associated with perceived norm, distantly followed by attitude. Specific behavioral, normative, and control beliefs were associated with intentions to engage in PDPT, especially the belief that it would protect one's own health and that the primary partner and/or provider thought they should do it. Participant characteristics, such as closeness of primary relationship, household income, and whether participants had ever borrowed prescription medications were significantly correlated with intentions.

The results provide important information regarding factors affecting PDPT adoption. This information can inform selection of PDPT participants and development of provider, patient, and partner informational materials.