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

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Rasheeta Chandler, Emory University; Dominique Guillaume, Emory University; Jessica Wells, Emory University; Natalie Hernandez, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-02-01
• Publisher: MDPI
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 by the authors.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031414
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• Grant/Funding Information: This research was funded by Emory University CFAR Grant number AI050409.
• Keywords: UNITED-STATES; PERCEPTIONS; KNOWLEDGE; Environmental Sciences; PREEXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS PREP; HIV prevention; health communication; AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN; ATTITUDES; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; attitudes; STIGMA; Black women; MASS-MEDIA; Science & Technology; pre-exposure prophylaxis; TRANSGENDER WOMEN; PERSPECTIVES; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Nursing

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—Savvy HER— 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.