Evaluation of a community-informed multimedia intervention to increase PrEP awareness and intention among African American young adults

ABSTRACT

Despite the benefits of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV and its potential for reducing racial/ethnic HIV inequities, PrEP remains underutilized among African Americans who may benefit from it. Factors of PrEP uptake include awareness and acceptability of this prevention strategy among this group, yet few community-informed interventions have been developed and evaluated to address these challenges. Thus, this study evaluates the effectiveness of a community-informed, six-month multimedia campaign (print, digital media, internet radio, social media) for African American young adults (age 18–29) in Louisville, Kentucky to increase PrEP awareness and PrEP use intentions. Pretest surveys, posttest surveys, and digital analytic metrics were used to determine campaign effectiveness. Logistic regressions indicate increased PrEP awareness over time (p ≤ 0.0001) and greater PrEP intention among participants reporting greater campaign affinity (p ≤ 0.05). Campaign digital analytic performance was similar to or exceeded that of industry competitors (e.g., healthcare organizations). Findings indicate that a community-informed multimedia campaign increased PrEP use intentions among those exhibiting greater campaign affinity (the extent to which participants report a favorable view of the campaign) and demonstrated similar or greater effectiveness in digital elements as industry competitors at a cost-effective price. Future studies should incorporate community-engaged approaches in developing health communication products for greater PrEP acceptability and efficiency.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT0355959.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• PrEP
• African American
• media

Acknowledgements

The authors also wish to thank the project participants, community partners, research associates who assisted in this project and Kenric Ware who provided editorial services.

Disclosure statement

J. Kerr has received consulting fees for a project funded by Gilead Sciences. K. Parker has received consulting fees and grant funding from Gilead.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Jewish Heritage Fund and the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health [K01 MH119942-01A1].