Measuring Sexual Risk Using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing (ACASI) versus Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) in China

Abstract

The reliability of self-reports of sexual acts and sexually transmitted disease symptoms was compared among 199 food market workers in an eastern coastal city in China using audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) and computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI). Two assessments (ACASI and CAPI) were evaluated with each participant; 100 participants were interviewed with ACASI first, followed by CAPI, and 99 participants were interviewed by CAPI first, followed by ACASI. McNemar tests showed that participants were significantly more likely to report that they had engaged in lifetime sexual intercourse when using a CAPI interview than an ACASI interview. There was no significant difference between CAPI and ACASI in reports of the number of lifetime sexual partners and two measures of sexually transmitted disease. Participants with less education were more likely to give inconsistent responses than participants with more education and older participants were more likely to have discrepancies in their sexual behavior responses than younger participants. ACASI is not necessarily a better mode of data collection than CAPI for sensitive behavioral measures among urban market workers in China.