(P65) UNVEILING THE INTRICACIES: DECODING THE STI SURVEILLANCE NETWORK (SSUN) INTERVIEW TOOL

Background:
Understanding the demographic, clinical, and behavioral attributes of gonorrhea patients in the United States is crucial for surveillance initiatives.  Enhanced interviews conducted through SSuN provide valuable insights not readily available through traditional case-based surveillance.  A comprehensive examination of investigation questions is imperative to assess trends in completeness and utility to guide the improvement of future interview tools.

Methods:
We analyzed unweighted data from enhanced investigations of a random sample of gonorrhea cases reported from SSuN jurisdictions during January 2018-December 2022.  The interview results were categorized based on the jurisdiction’s reported disposition, distinguishing between those marked as completed and all other dispositions were considered not completed. Valid responses adhered to the criteria outlined in the data dictionary, taking into account skip patterns, with ‘refused’ being a valid response in some variables.  Among completed interviews, we identified the proportion of valid responses per question (n=79).

Results:
Of 55,985 randomly sampled gonorrhea cases, 16,458 interviews were completed (30%).   Questions with a refused response option were infrequently reported as such (0.02-5.27%).  Seven questions received <10% valid responses, of which five were follow-up questions concerning the utilization of expedited partner therapy and the other two were questions about healthcare for HIV+ respondents.  Thirty-six (45%) questions had >90% valid responses reported.  Only half (48%) of the questions addressing gender/sex at birth garnered a valid response.  Among behavior-related questions, the question about the likelihood of having sex again with the last partner seldom had a valid response (12%).

Conclusion:
These findings underscore the significance of fine-tuning interview questions to enhance data completeness and utility in future gonorrhea surveillance initiatives.  This insight is invaluable for identifying the most effective questions, ensuring the inclusion of high-priority questions that effectively describe gonorrhea epidemiology and streamline investigations efficiently.  The identification of priority variables through enhanced interviews is crucial for optimizing both time and resources.