Department of Global and Community Health, College of Public Health, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
Brandeis University, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Waltham, MA.
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2023 Dec 15;94(5):387-394. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000003305.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created substantial and profound barriers to several forms of health care engagement. For Black sexual minority men, this may include engagement with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection, with significant implications for HIV disparities. Our study explored how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Black sexual minority men, with a focus on relationships between COVID-19 and PrEP engagement.
We sampled 24 Black sexual minority men attending HIV prevention-related events in the greater D.C. Metropolitan area (D.C., Maryland, Virginia).
We conducted qualitative phone interviews among our sample. Questions were primarily focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected engagement and considerations of PrEP use. Interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed using the 6 stages of thematic analysis.
We identified 3 major themes from our thematic analysis: Changes in the health care system, changes in sexual and relationship contexts, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. Relationships between COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and PrEP hesitancy were especially prevalent, with participants describing that COVID-19 hesitancy can directly deter PrEP use through eroding medical trust further.
We identified changes in the health care system, sexual and relationship contexts, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy as important issues driven by COVID-19 with significant implications for PrEP use. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the health care and social landscape in profound ways that affect PrEP access, sexual networks, and associated HIV vulnerability. Future research further exploring relationships between specific pandemic stressors and HIV prevention among Black sexual minority men is recommended .
COVID-19 大流行对多种形式的医疗保健服务的参与造成了实质性和深远的障碍。对于黑人性少数群体男性来说，这可能包括参与预防 HIV 感染的暴露前预防（PrEP），这对 HIV 差异有重大影响。我们的研究探讨了 COVID-19 大流行如何影响黑人性少数群体男性，重点关注 COVID-19 与 PrEP 参与之间的关系。
我们在华盛顿大都市区（华盛顿特区、马里兰州、弗吉尼亚州）的 HIV 预防相关活动中对 24 名黑人性少数群体男性进行了抽样调查。
我们对我们的样本进行了定性电话访谈。问题主要集中在 COVID-19 大流行及其如何影响参与度以及对 PrEP 使用的考虑。采访记录被转录，并使用主题分析的 6 个阶段进行定性分析。
我们从主题分析中确定了 3 个主要主题：医疗系统的变化、性和关系背景的变化以及 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫和错误信息。COVID-19 疫苗犹豫和 PrEP 犹豫之间的关系尤为普遍，参与者描述说，COVID-19 犹豫会通过进一步侵蚀医疗信任，直接阻碍 PrEP 的使用。
我们确定了医疗系统、性和关系背景以及 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫的变化是由 COVID-19 驱动的重要问题，对 PrEP 的使用有重大影响。COVID-19 大流行以深刻的方式改变了医疗保健和社会格局，影响了 PrEP 的获取、性网络和相关的 HIV 脆弱性。建议进一步探索特定大流行压力源与黑人性少数群体男性之间 HIV 预防之间的关系的未来研究。
