Let Me Prep You to PREP Me: Amplifying the Voices of Black Women and Their Providers to Consider PrEP As an HIV Prevention Option

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2022 Feb 15

PMID 35162438

Authors

Rasheeta Chandler

Dominique Guillaume

Jessica Wells

Natalie Hernandez

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Despite the high efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV acquisition, PrEP uptake among Black cisgender women remains low. Our qualitative study assessed Black cisgender women's perspectives, attitudes, and acceptability towards PrEP, in addition to exploring PrEP-related attitudes, facilitators, and barriers to PrEP access among health care staff. This study was conducted to ascertain data to inform the development of our HIV prevention app--which is being designed for Black cisgender women. Our findings indicated that Black women had low levels of PrEP acceptability and high levels of misconceptions, inaccurate knowledge, and stigma towards PrEP. Health care providers in our sample confirmed barriers of stigma, misconceptions, and knowledge among their patients coupled with difficulty accessing PrEP due to structural barriers. Our study indicated that there is a critical need to heighten Black cisgender women's PrEP knowledge and HIV risk perception in order to increase PrEP acceptability and uptake.

Citing Articles

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Identifying Access Barriers to PrEP Among Cisgender Black/African American Women in the United States: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

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