Preferences for Long-Acting Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Daily Oral PrEP, or Condoms for HIV Prevention Among U.S. Men Who Have Sex with Men

• DOI: 10.1007/s10461-016-1565-9
• Publication Date: 2016-10-21T07:54:51Z
• Authors: George J. Greene; Greg Swann; Angela J. Fought; Alex Carballo-Dié...; Thomas J. Hope; Patrick F. Kiser; Brian Mustanski; Richard T. D’Aquila
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Administration, Oral; HIV Infections; Patient Acceptance of Health Care; Injections; 3. Good health; Condoms; Sexual and Gender Minorities; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis; Homosexuality, Male

HIV prevention method preferences were evaluated among 512 U.S. men who have sex with men (MSM; median age: 22 years). Approximately 90 % consistently preferred one option across pairwise comparisons of condoms, daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and long-acting PrEP delivered via either an injectable or one of two types of PrEP implants differing in visibility. Condoms were most frequently preferred (33.8 %), followed by non-visible implants (21.5 %), and oral PrEP (17.0 %); HIV risk was reported by more choosing implants. In a follow-up question comparing the four PrEP options only, daily oral pills and non-visible implants were most frequently preferred (35.5 and 34.3 %, respectively), followed by injections (25.2 %) and visible implants (4.3 %). An inductive, open-coding approach determined that convenience, duration of protection, and privacy were the most commonly cited reasons for a PrEP method choice, and associated with self-report of HIV risk. Tailoring PrEP product development to privacy and other concerns important to those at highest HIV risk may improve HIV prevention.