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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Adam RathboneORCiD, Nia Cartwright, Dr Mark Ashton, Jonathan Foster, Dr Brendan PayneORCiD, Dr Sarah Duncan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Introduction Young people aged 18–24 years old are a key demographic target for eliminating HIV transmission globally. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a prevention medication, reduces HIV transmission. Despite good uptake by gay and bisexual men who have sex with men, hesitancy to use PrEP has been observed in other groups, such as young people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. The aim of this study was to explore young people’s perceptions and attitudes to using PrEP. Design A qualitative transcendental phenomenological design was used. Participants and setting A convenience sample of 24 young people aged between 18 and 24 years was recruited from England. Methods Semistructured interviews and graphical elicitation were used to collect data including questions about current experiences of HIV care, awareness of using PrEP and decision-making about accessing PrEP. Thematic and visual analyses were used to identify findings. Results Young people had good levels of knowledge about HIV but poor understanding of using PrEP. In this information vacuum, negative stigma and stereotypes about HIV and homosexuality were transferred to using PrEP, which were reinforced by cultural norms portrayed on social media, television and film—such as an association between using PrEP and being a promiscuous, white, gay male. In addition, young people from ethnic minority communities appeared to have negative attitudes to PrEP use, compared with ethnic majority counterparts. This meant these young people in our study were unable to make decisions about when and how to use PrEP. Conclusion Findings indicate an information vacuum for young people regarding PrEP. A strength of the study is that theoretical data saturation was reached. A limitation of the study is participants were largely from Northern England, which has low prevalence of HIV. Further work is required to explore the information needs of young people in relation to PrEP.
Author(s): Rathbone A, Cartwright N, Cummings L, Noble R, Budaiova K, Ashton M, Foster J, Payne B, Duncan S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: BMJ Open
Year: 2024
Volume: 14
Issue: 3
Print publication date: 18/03/2024
Online publication date: 18/03/2024
Acceptance date: 04/03/2024
Date deposited: 04/04/2024
ISSN (print): 2044-6055
ISSN (electronic): 2044-6055
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077733
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077733
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/2xwh-ca74
Data Access Statement: Data are available upon reasonable request. Data are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.
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