Cohall Alwyn, Cohall Renee, Staeheli Laura, Dolezal Curtis, Campos Stephanie, Lee Sin, O'Grady Megan, Tross Susan, Wilson Patrick, Elkington Katherine
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USA.
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.
Health Justice. 2024 Sep 18;12(1):38. doi: 10.1186/s40352-024-00288-3.
Sexually transmitted infections are a significant, and growing, public health problem in this country - particularly among youth. Innovative strategies are needed to reduce the community burden of infection. Preliminary studies indicate that individuals involved in the criminal legal system have high rates of infection. While gaps exist in providing screening for incarcerated individuals, there are minimal efforts that have been initiated to screen individuals diverted from incarceration. In this study, we examined the STI risk profile and feasibility of screening for sexually transmitted infections for youth who were attending an alternative sentencing program after arrest for a minor offense. Youth were screened for chlamydia and gonorrhea using urine-based nucleic acid amplification tests.
Of the 307 participants engaged in a program providing supportive services for criminal legal system involved youth at the Brooklyn Court House in New York City, 186 agreed to screening for sexually transmitted infections, and 8% were positive for chlamydia, gonorrhea, or both.
Screening programs within carceral settings have proven effective in identifying individuals with STIs. However, with policy changes diverting more young people away from incarceration and into community-based programs, innovative programs are needed to identify STIs among youth in these settings. Our findings indicate that it is feasible to conduct venue-based screening in these settings, and, doing so may identify youth in need of treatment and further evaluation.
性传播感染在该国是一个重大且日益严重的公共卫生问题——尤其是在青少年中。需要创新策略来减轻社区感染负担。初步研究表明，参与刑事司法系统的个体感染率很高。虽然在为被监禁者提供筛查方面存在差距，但针对从监禁中转出的个体进行筛查的工作却很少开展。在本研究中，我们调查了因轻微犯罪被捕后参加替代量刑项目的青少年的性传播感染风险状况以及进行性传播感染筛查的可行性。使用基于尿液的核酸扩增试验对青少年进行衣原体和淋病筛查。
在纽约市布鲁克林法院为参与刑事司法系统的青少年提供支持性服务的项目中的307名参与者中，186人同意进行性传播感染筛查，8%的人衣原体、淋病或两者检测呈阳性。
监禁场所内的筛查项目已被证明在识别性传播感染个体方面是有效的。然而，随着政策变化使更多年轻人不再被监禁而是进入社区项目，需要创新项目来识别这些环境中的青少年性传播感染情况。我们的研究结果表明，在这些环境中进行基于场所的筛查是可行的，这样做可能会识别出需要治疗和进一步评估的青少年。
