Table 2.

Characteristics of included studies

Author (year)	Country	Study aim	Sample/population	Number of participants	Age group	Research method	Key finding(s)
Qualitative studies
Muwanguzi et al. (2021)	Uganda	To explore employed professional men’s preferences for uptake of HIVST and linkage to HIV care or prevention services	Men	33	18–55 years	Qualitative (in-depth interviews)	Incentives could be used to improve the rates at which men are linked to HIV care following a reactive HIVST result
Rujumba et al. (2021)	Uganda	To explore perceptions of pregnant and lactating women, their male partners and health care providers regarding both initial and repeat HIVST for women and their male partners during pregnancy and lactation in Kampala and generated suggestions for potential integration and scale-up of HIV self-testing in PMTCT programs	Men & women	22 women 12 men 23 health care providers	24–40 years	Qualitative (in-depth interviews & focus group discussions)	Concern that, in addition to confidentiality concerns and stigma, the lack of active linkage to care systems could be another barrier to timely linkage
Matovu et al. (2020)	Uganda	To generate data necessary to inform the design of a peer-led HIVST intervention intended to improve HIV testing uptake and linkage to HIV care in Kasensero fishing community in rural Uganda	Men & women	16 women 31 men	15 years & older	Qualitative (focus group discussions)	Men preferred a home visit from a health care provider as a follow up strategy to encourage them to confirm reactive HIVST results and link to HIV care
Conserve et al. (2018)	Tanzania	To assess men’s attitudes and personal agency towards HIVST and confirmatory HIV testing in order to inform the development of the Tanzania Self-Testing Education and Promotion Project, a peer-based HIV self-testing intervention for young men in Tanzania	Men	23	Mean age: 27.3 years	Qualitative (in-depth interviews)	Men preferred phone call reminders over SMS reminders after HIVST
Choko et al. (2017)	Malawi	To describe the views of pregnant women and their male partners on HIV self-test kits that are woman-delivered, alone or with an additional intervention	Men & women	31 women 31 men	Median age for men: 28.5 years; women: 23.5 years	Qualitative (in-depth interviews & focus group discussions)	Men felt that providing a fixed financial incentive of approximately USD $2 would increase linkage to HIV care following a reactive HIVST result
Martinez Perez et al. (2016)	South Africa	To examine the feasibility and acceptability of unsupervised oral self-testing for home use in an informal settlement of South Africa	Men & women	11 women 9 men	18 years & older	Qualitative (couple interviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions)	Healthcare providers’ home visits may deter future utilization of HIVST. Concern that home visits could potentially stigmatize HIVST clients who are labelled as HIV infected
Makusha et al. (2015)	South Africa	To explore interest in HIVST; potential distribution channels for HIV self-test kits to target groups; perception of requirements for diagnostic technologies that would be most amenable to HIVST and opinions on barriers and opportunities for HIV-linkage to care after receiving positive test results	Men & women	2: Government Officials; 4: NGOs; 2: Donors; 3 Academic Researchers; 1 Int. stakeholder	18 years & older	Qualitative (in-depth interviews)	Some of the barriers to linkage to HIV care after a reactive HIVST result pertain to the lack of a personal referral system
Quantitative studies
Sithole et al. (2021)	South Africa	To investigate whether HIV self-test kit distribution was a feasible approach to reach men and to estimate the proportion of participants who reported their HIVST results, tested positive, and linked to care	Men	2634	Median age: 27 years (interquartile range: 22–33)	Quantitative	65% (n = 102/157) and 70% (n = 110/157) of men were linked to ART after a reactive HIVST result. Men who received an HIVST kit at a place other than the workplace or mobile van (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 3.58; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.30–14.84; p = 0.033) and those with a secondary level of education or above (AOR 1.34; 95% CI 1.00–1.78; p = 0.046) were more likely to report their HIVST results
Shapiro et al. (2020)	South Africa	To understand whether HIV self-test kit distribution is feasible to engage men in testing, to determine the yield of HIV detection and linkage to care for men by providing HIVST in South African communities, and to determine predictors of retention along the HIV cascade for men who use HIVST, in order to better optimize engagement for men	Males & females	4307 men 189 women	18 years & older	Quantitative (implementation)	72% of men with a reactive HIVST result received a confirmatory test, with 95% of these linking to ART. Overall linkage was confirmed for 68% of HIV diagnosed men
Korte et al. (2020)	Uganda	To evaluate the impact of offering HIVST to male partners of women presenting for antenatal care (ANC)	Male partners of pregnant women attending ANC	1455	18 years & older (mean age [standard deviation] 32.2 [8.1] years)	Quantitative (cluster-randomized controlled trial)	23% (n = 6/26) of men in the intervention vs 66.7% (n = 4/6) in the control arm were linked to HIV care following a reactive HIVST result
Choko et al. (2019)	Malawi	To investigate the impact of HIVST alone or with additional interventions on the uptake of testing and linkage to care or prevention among male partners of ANC clinic attendees in a novel adaptive trial	Male partners of pregnant women attending ANC	2349	Mean age: 30 years	Quantitative (cluster-randomized controlled trial)	91.3% (n = 42/46) of men were linked to ART following a reactive HIVST result
Thirumurthy et al. (2016)	Kenya	To assess an approach of providing multiple self-test kits to women at high risk of HIV acquisition to promote partner HIV testing and to facilitate safer sexual decision making	Male partners of sex workers and women receiving antenatal and post-partum care	280	18–39 years	Quantitative (cohort study)	56% (n = 23/41) of men were linked to HIV care following a reactive HIVST result
Masters et al. (2016)	Kenya	To determine whether providing multiple HIV self-test kits to pregnant and postpartum women for secondary distribution is more effective at promoting partner testing and couples testing than conventional strategies based on invitations to clinic-based testing	Male partners of pregnant women attending ANC	570	18 years & older	Quantitative (randomized controlled trial)	25% (n = 2/8) were linked to ART following a reactive HIVST result
Choko et al. (2015)	Malawi	To evaluate uptake, accuracy, linkage to care, and health outcomes when highly convenient and flexible but supported access to HIV self-test kits were provided to a well-defined and closely monitored population	Men & women	7868 women 6124 men	16 years & older	Quantitative (prospective—within a cluster-randomised trial)	Linkage to HIV care after a reactive HIVST result was 56.3% (n = 524/930)
Mixed-methods studies
Chipungu et al. (2017)	Zambia	To examine the intention to link to care amongst potential HIVST users and the suitability of three linkage to care strategies in Lusaka Province, Zambia	Men & women	Quantitative: 1617 (60% women, 40% men) Qualitative: 64 participants	16–49 years	Mixed methods: Quantitative (cross sectional) & qualitative (focus group discussions)	82% (n = 533/647) of men were willing to link to ART within the 1st week after a reactive HIVST result