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Background: HIV self-testing was proved as an effective tool for increasing testing frequency in gay and bisexual men at high risk of infection. Questions remain about understanding why HIVST encouraged testing and how such success can be translated to programmatic implementation., Methods: We conducted a qualitative investigation of how FORTH participants experienced and perceived HIVST. Stratified sampling was used to recruit gay and bisexual men participating in the FORTH HIVST intervention to take part in interviews, focusing on infrequent testers and those who had received inaccurate HIVST results., Results: Our analysis identified several prominent themes organized into two overarching domains from the 15 interviews: (i) aspects of HIVST contributing to HIV testing frequency, and (ii) sustaining HIVST into the future. Participants also believed that their use of HIVST in the future would depend on the test kit's reliability, particularly when compared with highly reliable clinic-based testing., Conclusion: HIVST increases the frequency of HIV testing among gay and bisexual men due, in part, to the practical, psychological, and social benefits it offers. To capitalize fully on these benefits, however, strategies to ensure the availability of highly reliable HIVST are required to sustain benefits beyond the confines of a structured research study., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: In the United States, men who have sex with men (MSM) are known to disproportionately have HIV. The authors sought to describe the acceptability of providing at-home dried blood spot specimen collection kits for HIV testing among MSM., Methods: Between August 2010 and December 2010, the authors recruited Internet-using, HIV-negative or -unknown MSM to participate in a 12-month study of behavioral risks. Eligible participants were mailed an at-home HIV test., Results: Of the 896 men who were sent a test kit, 735 (82%) returned the kit. Returning a test kit was significantly associated with race (P = .002), highest level of education (P = .012), and annual income (P = .026). The adjusted odds of black, non-Hispanic men returning a test kit were about half of the odds of white, non-Hispanic men returning a test kit (adjusted odds ratios: 0.49; 95% confidence intervals: 0.31-0.78)., Conclusions: Men who have sex with men are willing to provide biological specimens as part of an Internet-based HIV prevention study., (© The Author(s) 2016.)