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Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study participants by study arms

From: Comparison of practicability and effectiveness between unassisted HIV self-testing and directly assisted HIV self-testing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a randomized feasibility trial

Participant characteristics

Directly assisted HIV self-testing

(N = 265)

Unassisted HIV self-testing

(N = 265)

Total

(N = 530)

p-valuea

Sex, n (%)

   

0.859

 Male

104 (39.2)

106 (40.0)

210 (39.6)

 

 Female

161 (60.8)

159 (60.0)

320 (60.4)

 

Age (years), mean (SD)

26.9 (6.7)

26.8 (6.7)

26.9 (6.7)

0.881

Age group, n (%)

   

0.861

 Younger 18 to 24 years

114 (43.0)

112 (42.3)

226 (42.6)

 

 Older 25 to 49 years

151 (57.0)

153 (57.7)

304 (57.4)

 

Marital status, n (%)

   

0.589

 Single

189 (71.3)

195 (73.6)

384 (72.5)

 

 Married/partnered

73 (27.5)

65 (24.5)

138 (26.0)

 

 Separated/divorced or widowed

3 (1.1)

5 (1.9)

8 (1.5)

 

Occupation, n (%)

   

0.778

 Student

141 (53.2)

136 (51.3)

277 (52.3)

 

 Employed

63 (23.8)

61 (23.0)

124 (23.4)

 

 Unemployed

61 (23.0)

68 (25.7)

129 (24.3)

 

Educational level, n (%)

   

0.176

 No formal education/ Primary school

37 (14.0)

53 (20.0)

90 (17.0)

 

 College or technical school

101 (38.1)

96 (36.2)

197 (37.2)

 

 University

127 (47.9)

116 (43.8)

243 (45.8)

 

Religion, n (%)

   

0.355

 Catholic Christianity

68 (25.7)

52 (19.6)

120 (22.6)

 

 Protestant or Pentecostal Christianity

77 (29.1)

80 (30.2)

157 (29.6)

 

 Islam

33 (12.5)

32 (12.1)

65 (12.3)

 

 Others

87 (32.8)

101 (38.1)

188 (35.5)

 

Recruited participants with the token distributing, n (%)

88 (33.2)

98 (37.0)

186 (35.1)

0.363

HIV transmission risk factor in the past six months, n (%)

 Unprotected intercourse with one or more partners, or new sex partners

227 (85.7)

218 (82.3)

445 (84.0)

0.287

 Commercial sex activity

73 (27.5)

86 (32.5)

159 (30.0)

0.218

 Symptoms of sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

35 (13.2)

47 (17.7)

82 (15.5)

0.149

 Being in a known HIV discordant partnership

6 (2.3)

3 (1.1)

9 (1.7)

0.313

Previously tested for HIV, n (%)

   

0.728

 Never tested

135 (50.9)

131 (49.4)

266 (50.2)

 

 Ever tested

130 (49.1)

134 (50.6)

264 (49.8)

 

Previous knowledge about HIV self-testing, n (%)

   

0.584

 Yes

89 (33.6)

95 (35.8)

184 (34.7)

 

 No

176 (66.4)

170 (64.2)

346 (65.3)

 
  1. aStatistical comparisons were assessed by Pearson Chi-2 test or Student t test