Study Uses Videos in Waiting Room to Reduce STD Rates

A study released today in the journal PLoSMedicine reports that patients at STD clinics who were exposed to a 23 minute STD/HIV prevention video had nearly a 10% reduction in new infections compared with patients who did not see the video.

The study alternated two waiting room conditions, one where the video was playing on a television screen along with “movie style” posters that highlighted the key messages in the video, and the other a “standard waiting room” condition with no educational video or posters. They ran each condition for four weeks and then switched, following the three clinics for a two year period. According to the study press release:

Of 38,635 patients included, the incident STI rate was lower in the intervention condition (4.9%) than the control condition (5.7%). Strong intervention effects were observed among male patients (13% reduction in STIs) and those who were diagnosed with an infection at the beginning of the study (14% reduction).

While the study didn’t find a dramatic effect it points to a cost effective and relatively easy to implement intervention that is certainly doing more to promote healthy sexuality than the kind of sex information you find in magazines that end up in most clinic waiting rooms.

The study press release directs readers to a website about the video and study called SafeinTheCity.org, but the site currently does not seem to be open to the public.

Read more – Warner L, Klausner JD, Rietmeijer CA, Malotte CK, O'Donnell L, et al. (2008) Effect of a Brief Video Intervention on Incident Infection Among Patients Attending Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics. PLoS Med 5(6): e135.