Table 3 Barriers of PrEP uptake
Theme | Representative Quotation |
|---|---|
Marketing ‘gay pill’ | In [city name omitted], I don’t think I’ve heard much at all about PrEP. Even going to places like [name of agency removed] and getting tested, nothing immediately stood out, that this is talking about PrEP….. I feel like HIV here in the South is still stigmatized in a way, that I didn't feel back at home. FG1 |
PrEP is marketed toward gay men purposefully…. But, I don’t see that marketing that goes toward heterosexuals who are still affected by HIV. It’s still looked at as a very gay disease. FG1 | |
Promiscuity Promoting | I know a few select people that are on PrEP, I think another barrier that has developed for me is you use PrEP to have unprotected sex versus it being used as additional protection. It’s one of those things, I’m on it. I can just have raw sex any time all the time. FG4 |
If I know that I can take this pill and not catch HIV, I think everyone will be a little more loose and not use condoms…. That is an issue in the back of my mind, people not using condoms as a result of taking the pill. FG1 | |
Because they’re on PrEP, they think they can sleep around all the time unprotected. ‘Just because I'm doing this, I’m protected. I can have multiple sex partners, I can sleep around without using protection.’ FG3 | |
PrEP Access | White men particularly are the face of the community and taking PrEP…. our communities just are not exposed to for whatever reasons that our white counterparts have the advantage of having that information more readily available to them, particularly here in the South. FG1 |
Linkage Process | Some of the requirements to get on PrEP are crazy. You have to say you slept with so many people. FG2 |
Process is taking so long. My doctor didn’t know what it was and started trying to get that in motion [sigh]. FG4 |