Sustaining sexual and reproductive health through COVID-19 pandemic restrictions: qualitative interviews with Australian clinicians
Christy E. Newman
A * , Doug Fraser B , Jason J. Ong C D , Christopher Bourne B E F , Andrew E. Grulich B and Benjamin R. Bavinton B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre for Social Research in Health, John Goodsell Building, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
B The Kirby Institute, Wallace Wurth Building, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
C Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Vic. 3053, Australia.
D Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
E Sydney Sexual Health Centre, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
F Centre for Population Health, NSW Health, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia.
Sexual Health 19(6) 525-532 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH22109
Submitted: 27 June 2022 Accepted: 3 August 2022 Published: 30 August 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: The sexual and reproductive health care of people with HIV and those at risk of HIV has largely been delivered face-to-face in Australia. These services adapted to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with a commitment to continued care despite major impacts on existing models and processes. Limited attention has been paid to understanding the perspectives of the sexual and reproductive health care workforce in the research on COVID-19 adaptations.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and September 2021 with 15 key informants representing a diverse range of service settings and professional roles in the Australian sexual and reproductive health sector. Inductive themes were generated through a process of reflexive thematic analysis, informed by our deductive interest in clinical adaptations.
Results: The major adaptations were: triage (rapidly adapting service models to protect the most essential forms of care); teamwork (working together to overcome ongoing threats to service quality and staff wellbeing), and the intwined themes of telehealth and trust (remaining connected to marginalised communities through remote care). Despite impacts on care models and client relationships, there were sustained benefits from the scaleup of remote care, and attention to service safety, teamwork and communication.
Conclusions: Attending to the experiences of those who worked at the frontline of the COVID-19 response provides essential insights to inform sustained, meaningful system reform over time. The coming years will provide important evidence of longer-term impacts of COVID-19 interruptions on both the users and providers of sexual and reproductive health services.
Keywords: Australia, clinician perspectives, COVID-19, gender affirming care, HIV prevention and treatment, qualitative research, service adaptations, sexual and reproductive health.
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