Community-Informed Development of a Campaign to Increase HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Awareness Among African-American Young Adults

J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2021 Aug;8(4):901-911. doi: 10.1007/s40615-020-00848-x. Epub 2020 Aug 31.

Abstract

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention can help reduce racial/ethnic HIV disparities in the USA. However, the benefits of PrEP have not been equally distributed across races. Community-informed, culturally tailored media has the potential to increase PrEP awareness and acceptability among vulnerable African-American populations. More research is needed to identify media preferences around PrEP for these groups in order to optimize effectiveness of health messaging. This study details the development of a community-informed multimedia (print, digital, Internet radio, website, social media) campaign to increase PrEP awareness among African-American young adults (age 18-29 years). Eleven focus groups with African-American young adults and a community advisory board informed the intervention. Focus group participants expressed concerns with PrEP safety, efficacy, accessibility, the universality of HIV vulnerability, and representation. Campaign elements were then developed based on this feedback. Future studies should examine the effectiveness of culturally tailored multimedia PrEP campaigns.

Keywords: African-American; Community; HIV; Media; PrEP; Pre-exposure prophylaxis.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Black or African American / psychology*
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Focus Groups
  • HIV Infections / ethnology
  • HIV Infections / prevention & control*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / ethnology*
  • Health Promotion / organization & administration*
  • Humans
  • Kentucky
  • Male
  • Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis*
  • Young Adult