Exploring young Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men’s PrEP knowledge in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Despite significant advances in the HIV treatment and prevention landscape such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), young Black-Canadian gay, bisexual and other sexual minority men continue to experience disproportionately high rates of HIV infection. While research has explored the factors associated with their higher HIV exposure and the efficacy of STI/HIV prevention programmes, there remains a paucity of research on their knowledge of HIV prevention strategies such as PrEP. We interviewed twenty-two young men and used a constructivist grounded theory approach to qualitatively analyse these young men’s PrEP knowledge. Intersectionality and the social ecological model allowed us to explore how social locations (e.g. race, sexual orientation), interacted with individual, interpersonal and community contexts to shape their understanding. Our analysis revealed two interrelated barriers to PrEP knowledge and uptake. The first centred on the ineffectiveness of institutions in disseminating PrEP information to participants. The second focused on the impact of participants’ social locations and perceptions of PrEP users based on their PrEP knowledge. Findings suggest the need for more targeted, culturally congruent PrEP dissemination strategies and PrEP prescription policies that acknowledge the various social locations and ecologies in which young Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men reside.