ABSTRACT
HIV infections disproportionately impact Latinx populations in the United States, yet oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake is low. This study was a secondary gendered analysis of interviews with Latina cisgender women (n = 20) recruited from an urban safety net hospital inNew York City between August 2019 and October 2022. All women were indicated for PrEP by the provider. In-depth interviews were conducted with participants in English and Spanish and asked about social determinants of health, sexual partnerships and behaviors, and PrEP-specific enablers and barriers. Secondary thematic content analysis was conducted to identify gender-related factors influencing PrEP uptake. The following themes emerged from the data:structural factors (e.g., employment), partner-related factors, low sexual health knowledge, and resilience and empowerment. Partner-related factors were the most salient; partner infidelity served as reasons for initiating PrEP. Despite being constrained by low power in relationships, women made empowered choices to initiate PrEP and protect themselves. Findings indicated that the impact of gender inequity was an important factor in Latina women’s PrEP decision making, pointing to a need to address partner-driven HIV risk, imbalance of power in relationships, and gender norms.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the participants in this study for their time and insights. This study is supported by the Gilead Sciences, Inc. (IN-US-276-5456) and the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant 1R01HL160324.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ethics approval
This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the New York City Health + Hospitals Bellevue.
Consent to participate
All participants provided informed consent to participate in this study.
Availability of data and material
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.