Partner Disclosure of PrEP Use and Undetectable Viral Load on Geosocial Networking Apps: Frequency of Disclosure and Decisions About Condomless Sex
BACKGROUND:
Recent
advances in biomedical prevention strategies, including pre-exposure
prophylaxis (PrEP) and achieving an undetectable viral load (UVL) among
HIV-infected persons, show promise in curbing the rising incidence of HIV among
men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. This mixed-methods study
aimed to investigate the frequency with which MSM encounter potential sex
partners on geosocial networking apps who disclose biomedical prevention use,
and how MSM make decisions about condom use after these disclosures.
METHOD:
Participants
were recruited through advertisements placed on a large geosocial networking
app for MSM. A total of 668 and 727 participants, respectively, responded to
questionnaires assessing partner disclosure of PrEP use and UVL. Each
questionnaire included an open-ended item assessing reasons for condomless anal
sex (CAS) with partners using biomedical prevention.
RESULTS:
Across
both surveys, most respondents encountered potential sex partners who disclosed
PrEP use or UVL, and the majority of those who met up with these partners
engaged in CAS at least once. Qualitative analyses found that most participants
who reported CAS did so after making a calculated risk about HIV transmission.
We also describe a novel risk reduction strategy, "biomed-matching," or
having CAS only when both individuals use PrEP or have UVL. We report
serostatus differences in both quantitative and qualitative findings.
CONCLUSIONS:
Disclosure
of PrEP use and UVL is not uncommon among MSM. Many MSM make accurate
appraisals of the risks of CAS with biomedical prevention, and mobile apps may
aid with disclosing biomedical prevention use.
No comments:
Post a Comment