February 2018 - Capital City College
Accessibility & Translation

CANDI students take part in medical research study

Eight City and Islington College students contributed important research to a Guy’s and St Thomas’ charity-funded research study that started two years ago, and has recently been published.

The students, who studied Medical Science – Level 3 Extended Diploma, at our Centre for Applied Sciences, were responsible for recruiting young people to take part in the study, which trialled an ‘internet-accessed sexually transmitted infection (e-STI) testing and results service.’

After being given training by the staff at King’s College London, Amani, Hanna, Hasan, Layla, Mehanaz, Ugne, Muna and Paula visited colleges in London in order to explain to young people what the study was about, answering questions and recruiting them to participate.

Internet-accessed sexually transmitted infection testing (e-STI testing) is increasingly available as an alternative to testing in clinics. Typically, the testing enables users to order a test kit from a website or app, collect their own samples, return test samples to a laboratory, and be notified of their results by text message or telephone. The research study assessed the effectiveness of an e-STI testing and results service (chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV, and syphilis) on STI testing uptake and STI cases diagnosed.

The results of the research found that offering young people testing kits for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) over the internet almost doubled testing uptake, compared with inviting them to a clinic.

The full trial report can be found here.

Queen's Award for Enterprise
FE Team of the Year