“In reality, it is complex and difficult”: UK nurses' perspectives on “treatment as prevention” within HIV care

Abstract

Globally, clinical guidelines for HIV treatment are being altered to reflect new research showing that successful treatment with antiretroviral therapies (ART) can prevent the onward transmission of HIV. As a result, health care services are being challenged to find ways to roll out “treatment as prevention” (TasP) as a public health measure. In theory, TasP requires individuals to start ART as soon as they are diagnosed – for public health reasons – which may be some time before ART for that individual is required for clinical reasons. There is currently little research on the acceptability of TasP from a patient or provider perspective. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that sought to explore UK nurses' views and experiences of TasP in HIV care. Ten HIV specialist nurses, purposively selected from across the country, were interviewed. Results suggest that, although positive about TasP in principle, nurses hold several reservations about its implementation in practice. Perceived benefits of TasP include reassurance for patients that their loved ones are protected and that immediate care is available. Concerns include the possibility of sexual dis-inhibition or coercion within sexual relationships. In the UK context, decisions around TasP are still being made on a highly individualised patient by patient basis, within a philosophy of holistic care and partnership working. As such, the research participants called for more resources to support information giving, risk assessment and decision-making. The results show that translating a public health treatment approach into individual patient care is complex, potentially time-consuming and may alter traditional provider–patient dynamics. The findings from this study suggest that in-depth research is needed to understand better the patient, community and provider experience as TasP becomes more widely rolled out.

Keywords:

• treatment as prevention
• TasP
• HIV
• nurses
• providers
• antiretroviral therapy
• UK
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Murad Ruf, Dr Sarah Fidler, Mr Robert Fieldhouse and Dr Hilary Curtis for advising on the project. We also thank Mediscript, NHIVNA's Secretariat, for providing administrative support. We are grateful to the NHIVNA members who gave up their time to be interviewed. Finally, we acknowledge Gilead Sciences Ltd for providing a grant to NHIVNA to fund this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.