Factors related to PrEP intent and use among African American women in Texas

The purpose of this study was to examine if relationships exist between attitudes toward condom use, HIV stereotypes, HIV knowledge, perceived HIV risk, intent to use PrEP and PrEP use among African American cisgender women who reside in Texas. The current study is a secondary data analysis of a primary study conducted among African American cisgender women. Data were collected via an online questionnaire and exported to IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 for analysis. Results of this study reveal African American cisgender women who have not used PrEP as a prevention strategy possessed favorable attitudes toward condom use compared to women who have used PrEP as a prevention strategy. African American cisgender women who exhibited favorable perceptions of negative stereotypes regarding HIV held weak intentions of using PrEP. Identified barriers to using PrEP include unawareness of PrEP and its availability, low HIV risk perception, competing life priorities, high cost for PrEP medication continued use, non-compliance due to social issues, stigma associated with PrEP use, mistrust of medical institutions, and practitioner disclosure issues related to sexual behaviors. To address individual and community needs for health education, health educators must implement interventions/programs to increase awareness of and PrEP acceptability by African American women. Additionally, health educators should also provide information about the safety and efficacy of PrEP across communication channels to reach a diverse audience. Health educators should organize and implement PrEP provider education facilitated by physicians currently using PrEP to train fellow physicians and clinicians how to assess their patients’ sexual and substance abuse history and educate patients about the availability of PrEP. Additionally, the study revealed 41.5% of respondents reported they were currently taking PrEP.