Perceptions of African American women and health care professionals related to pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV / Triniece Pearson, Rasheeta Chandler, Linda L. McCreary, Crystal L. Patil, Barbara L. McFarlin

Objective: To describe the perceptions of African American women and health care professionals (HCPs) about factors that likely influence the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among African American women. Design: Prospective mixed methods. Setting: Chicago, IL. Participants: Fifty-eight participants included HCPs (n = 10) and African American women (n = 48). Methods: Following the six steps of concept mapping, participants identified and rated factors they perceived to influence decisions to use PrEP among African American women. Results: African American women generated a list of statements, and we grouped the statements into eight clusters: access, financial, best benefits, protection, medication, setbacks, network, and fear. HCPs ranked having an HIV-positive partner as the most influential factor that affected African American women’s decisions to use PrEP (network cluster). African American women ranked ability to prevent HIV when condom use cannot be negotiated as their top reason (best benefits cluster) for using PrEP. Conclusion: African American women wanted to know how they could protect themselves and were open to using PrEP. For African American women considering the use of PrEP, the most influential factors were related to the benefits and accessibility of PrEP. HCPs should know that African American women are not afraid to discuss HIV risk and testing.

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