Confidentiality and access to sexual health services

Background: Confidentiality concerns are often described as barriers to seeking sexual health care. There has been little research describing the relative importance of confidentiality to clients of sexual health clinics, and whether members of high-risk groups have greater concerns. This study aimed to determine the importance of confidentiality and anonymity to clients of a public sexual health clinic, and determine associations with gender and sexuality. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was offered to consecutive new English-speaking clients in October and November 2007. Participants were asked to describe the reasons for presenting, likelihood of disclosing identifying information, and concern should specific people and agencies become aware of their attendance. Results: Of 350 eligible clients, 270 (77%) participated in the survey. Expert care was included in the top three reasons for choosing a sexual health clinic rather than a general practitioner by over half of participants, while confidentiality and cost were each included in the top three reasons by one-third of respondents respectively. Over 90% of clients reported they were likely to give accurate identifying information to the clinic. Participants were comfortable with disclosure of information to other health-care workers but became increasingly unwilling for information to be shared with services not directly involved in their care. Overall there were few associations with gender or sexuality. Conclusion: Clients choose to attend our clinic for a variety of reasons, with confidentiality and anonymity being of lesser importance than competence and cost. Confidentiality is important to the majority of clients, whereas few desire anonymity. Most clients would accept information being shared with other health services, suggesting that confidentiality may not be a barrier to the use of electronic health records in sexual health clinics.