Black Adolescent Females’ Perceptions of PrEP for HIV Risk Reduction

• Published in: Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care Vol. 22; p. 23259582231206934
• Main Authors: Budge, Mariana, Opara, Ijeoma, Weser, Veronica U., Sands, Brandon E., Hieftje, Kimberly D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2023; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use; Black People; Disease transmission; Ethnic groups; Female; Females; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Heterosexuality; HIV; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - prevention & control; Homosexuality, Male; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Marketing; Population growth; Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis - methods; Prevention; Qualitative research; Racial differences; Risk Reduction Behavior; Sex and Gender Issues; preexposure prophylaxis; qualitative; focus group; human immunodeficiency virus; adolescent; Black; prevention
• ISSN: 2325-9582; 2325-9574; 2325-9582
• DOI: 10.1177/23259582231206934

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention is approved for use in adolescents, though uptake remains low. Black adolescent females experience higher rates of HIV transmission compared to adolescent females of other racial/ethnic groups. Increasing PrEP awareness and education among this population may be an effective strategy to mitigate disparities in HIV transmission among Black adolescent females. Twenty-seven Black adolescent females participated in focus groups which were coded using the constant comparative method of qualitative analysis to identify major themes: (1) PrEP is not commonly framed as an HIV prevention strategy for heterosexual Black adolescent females, (2) PrEP use among peers is perceived as mostly positive, (3) Adoption of PrEP among Black adolescent females is impeded by perceived barriers such as stigma, negative side effects, and adherence concerns. These findings may inform the development of targeted culturally tailored marketing and educational campaigns centered on Black heterosexual adolescent females to increase PrEP awareness and uptake in this population disproportionately affected by HIV.