Klein Hugh, Washington Thomas Alex
Kensington Research Institute, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America.
California State University-Long Beach, Long Beach, California, United States of America.
Int Public Health J. 2019;11(2):185-195.
Despite being at the cornerstone of current initiatives to curtail the spread of HIV, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication has been slow to proliferate among many "at risk" populations. This is true for men who have sex with other men (MSM), who account for the largest number of new HIV diagnoses in the United States. To try to understand why MSM are not adopting PrEP in greater numbers, the present authors have created a 22-item PrEP Stigma Scale. This paper reports findings for that scale.
Purposive sampling was used to derive a sample of 273 diverse MSM. Men completed a brief questionnaire inquiring about their awareness of PrEP, willingness to avail themselves of various sources of information about PrEP, perceptions about PrEP-related stigma, and perceptions about obstacles to PrEP use. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients were computed for the PrEP Stigma Scale, for the full sample and for key subgroups. Factor analysis was performed to determine whether or not subscales exist.
The PrEP Stigma Scale was found to be highly reliable, both in its full version (alpha=0.96) and in its shortened version (alpha=0.95). Reliability estimates were strong for all subgroups based on age, race, sexual orientation, educational attainment, relationship status, and HIV serostatus. Two subscales were identified, each with excellent reliability (alpha=0.95 and 0.94), again for the sample as a whole and for all key subgroups.
The PrEP Stigma Scale shows great promise for aiding our understanding of why more MSM are not adopting PrEP. It was found to be reliable for all key subgroups under examination, and that is true both for the 22-item and the 11-item version of the scale.
尽管暴露前预防（PrEP）药物是当前遏制艾滋病毒传播举措的基石，但在许多“高危”人群中，其普及速度一直较慢。男男性行为者（MSM）的情况就是如此，他们在美国新增艾滋病毒诊断病例中占比最大。为了试图理解为何男男性行为者没有更多地采用PrEP，本文作者创建了一个包含22个条目的PrEP污名量表。本文报告了该量表的研究结果。
采用目的抽样法抽取了273名不同的男男性行为者作为样本。这些男性完成了一份简短问卷，询问他们对PrEP的知晓情况、利用各种PrEP信息来源的意愿、对PrEP相关污名的看法以及对PrEP使用障碍的看法。计算了整个样本以及关键亚组的PrEP污名量表的克朗巴哈α信度系数。进行因子分析以确定是否存在子量表。
发现PrEP污名量表无论是完整版（α=0.96）还是缩短版（α=0.95）都具有高度可靠性。基于年龄、种族、性取向、教育程度、恋爱状况和艾滋病毒血清学状态的所有亚组的信度估计都很强。确定了两个子量表，每个子量表的可靠性都非常好（α=0.95和0.94），同样适用于整个样本和所有关键亚组。
PrEP污名量表在帮助我们理解为何更多男男性行为者没有采用PrEP方面显示出巨大潜力。研究发现，对于所考察的所有关键亚组来说，该量表都是可靠的，无论是22个条目的版本还是11个条目的版本。
