Brewer, D. D., Garrett, S. B., & Kulasingam, S. (1999). Forgetting as a cause of incomplete reporting of sexual and drug injection partners. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 26, 166-176.
Background and Objectives: Partner notification and social network studies of
infectious disease often involve interviewing people to elicit their sexual and/or
drug injection partners. Incomplete reporting of partners in these contexts would
significantly hamper efforts to understand and control the spread of STDs, HIV, and
other infections. Many reasons exist why individuals might not name their partners
in interviews. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of forgetting as a
cause of incomplete reporting of sexual and injection partners.
Study Design: One-hundred fifty-six persons in Seattle (USA) at presumed high risk
for HIV recalled their sexual and/or injection partners in two interviews separated
by one week or three months.
Results: Repeated, nonspecific prompting elicited, on average, 10% or all partners
recalled in an interview. Subjects displayed substantial forgetting of partners
across partner types, recall periods, and four independent measurement approaches,
with up to 72% of partners forgotten. The number of partners recalled and subjective
assessment of forgetting are moderate to good predictors of the number of partners
forgotten. Recalled and forgotten partners do not differ dramatically on any of
several partner variables.
Conclusion: Forgetting is a primary factor in the incomplete reporting of sexual and
injection partners. Interviewers should prompt repeatedly to maximize recall of partners. Reeinterviewing is currently the best method available for identifying partners as completely as possible and should be focused on individuals who report many partners and/or sense they have other partners they cannot recall.
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