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Conference Tracks, Domains, and Clinical Case Series

Track I Assessment

This track incorporates material on prevalence, incidence, trends, concentration, variance and rate-of-change in infections, sequelae, behaviors, and services.

  • Assessment of infections and sequelae

    • Methods of assessment of infections and sequelae for programs and research
    • Surveillance and epidemiology of bacterial STDs
    • Surveillance and epidemiology of viral STDs
    • Surveillance and epidemiology of STD-related sequelae
    • Surveillance and epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance and treatment failure
    • Surveillance and epidemiology of syndemics
    • Assessment of laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies impacting infections and sequelae
    • Assessment of macro/structural factors impacting infections and sequelae
    • Assessment of infections and sequelae using health information technology
    • Assessment of disparities and health equity
    • Diagnostic tests and typing of pathogens
    • Natural history of STDs
    • Other
  • Assessment of behaviors

    • Methods of behavioral assessment for programs and research
    • Adolescent and young adult risk and protective behaviors
    • Men who have sex with men (MSM) risk and protective behaviors
    • Vulnerable population risk and protective behaviors
    • General population risk and protective behaviors
    • Drug and alcohol use and STDs
    • Assessment of macro/structural factors impacting risk and protective behaviors
    • Assessment of laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies impacting risk and protective behaviors
    • Other
  • Assessment of health services and service gaps

    • Methods of health services assessment for programs and research
    • Preventive health services coverage
    • Gaps in preventive health services
    • Assessment of laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies impacting the delivery of health services
    • Assessment of macro/structural factors impacting the delivery of health services
    • Assessment of program collaboration and service integration
    • Assessment of health service utilization through health information technology
    • Other

Track II Program Definition / Prevention Services

This track showcases efforts to define core components of STD control programs and describe implementation of prevention activities within the larger context of public health priorities and target population needs. This “context” is a function of a variety of things and may affect an activities’ overall impact and its unintended consequences. From the perspective of the STD program it includes the changing epidemiology of STD and other conditions, limited and shrinking resources, and competing programmatic priorities as well as local public health priorities. From the perspective of those targeted by prevention activities, the context includes economic, health, or venue-based priorities.

  • Program Definition

    • Core components and service priorities for prevention programs
    • Policy development to support implementation of core components
    • Public health and primary care service cooperation and integration
    • Useful and sustainable partnerships with primary care providers and other stakeholders
    • Policy development for program capacity, e.g., accreditation
    • Combination prevention approaches by epidemic status (intervention packages: timing, coverage, impact measurement, efficiency)
  • Prevention services targeting specific populations and venues

    • Adolescents and young adults, including prevention services during transition to adulthood
    • LGBTQ populations
    • Men who have sex with men (MSM: independent of sexual orientation or identity)
    • Migrant and displaced populations
    • Populations with high rates of adverse health outcomes (e.g., defined by race/ethnicity, by geography, by socioeconomic status)
    • Schools and colleges (includes alternative schools, home-schooling)
    • Incarcerated populations
    • Other
  • Prevention services strategies and evaluation

    • Communication ( includes social marketing)
    • Behavioral interventions (includes counseling)
    • Partner services and other network-based approaches to prevention
    • Screening and treatment algorithms
    • Policy development methods
    • Outreach strategies (includes field-based, internet, texting, mobile applications)
    • Laboratory and clinical diagnostic and management advances (includes point-of-care testing, test development, and technological advances)

Track III Assurance

This track will include material on issues of efficiency, effectiveness and impact of program intervention packages; resource allocation and return on investment (ROI) in program interventions.

  • Quality of Implementation

    • Evaluations of current STI screening and treatment practices and guideline implementation
    • Interventions to improve the uptake of STI screening and treatment
    • Consumer acceptability and accessibility of STI screening and treatment interventions
    • Assuring the coverage and quality of STD services provided by providers in the community and in public health settings
    • The role of health information technology on quality of STD care
    • Dissemination, adaptation and translation of research
    • Implementation, and evaluation of health communication and social marketing campaigns
    • Criteria for evaluating or assuring that interventions are evidence or practice based.
  • Scale up and Coverage

    • Scale up of Lab technology innovations (Point-of-care tests, multiplex test, test development)
    • Assurance of safety net services (especially among populations disproportionately affected by STDs)
    • Integration of public health into primary care
    • Ethical influences and assurances for the development and execution of public health prevention programs, including individual and population-focused approaches
  • Efficiency and Impact

    • Monitoring and evaluating the impact of relevant policies on STDs (including STD services)
    • Opportunities for increased use of STD-related quality measures in CMS programs and elsewhere
    • Evaluation of health system collaboration (hospitals, systems, insurers) to identify service gaps and monitor recommended preventive services
    • Program evaluation, health economics and cost-effectiveness studies, and assessments of the population-level impact of STD prevention activities
    • Impact of population-level structural interventions including policy changes
    • Maximizing population-level impact of STD prevention activities through quality improvement
    • Health economics analyses (e.g. contingent valuation studies, cost-effectiveness analyses, cost-benefit analyses, return on investment analyses)
    • Multi-level interventions: scope and impact
    • Identification and implementation of strategies for addressing health disparities and their social determinants
    • Identification and implementation of strategies for continuous quality improvement

Domains

Clinical and Laboratory: This domain will cover all STD relevant laboratory and clinical issues including diagnostic and screening tests and clinical management of STD cases.

Policy: This domain will cover issues around national, state and local laws, regulations, procedures as well as policies at the institutional level (e.g., clinic) that impact STD prevalence and incidence; STD case finding and treatment; and STD surveillance and prevention.

Evaluation: This domainwill cover issues around process, outcome and impact evaluation of STD surveillance, STD prevention interventions, and STD treatment and prevention services.

Clinical Case Series

Investigators are invited to submit abstracts which describe clinical cases of STDs or STD-associated syndromes. These cases should comprise interesting, unusual, or complex presentations of STD, or should represent key teaching points that highlight emerging aspects of STD-related care. The cases will be presented to, and discussed by, an expert panel of clinicians who will review salient issues of epidemiology, clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, and management options. Cases should reflect recent patient encounters which highlight the complexities of STD clinical decision-making in current practice. Abstracts should be submitted according to the abstract guidelines described above.

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