Motivations, benefits, and barriers to the use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis based on the health belief model.
Rita de Cássia Pereira Rodrigues, Marcela Antonini, Laís do Espirito Santo Lima and 3 others
PMID 41221914WHAT IT FOUND
PrEP users sought it mainly because they felt exposed to HIV, especially through partners' status or condom failures.
They valued protection and clinic follow-up, but cited appointment difficulty, daily pills, side-effect worries, and stigma.
Key findings
01Participants said perceived HIV risk, especially partner status or uncertainty, motivated PrEP use.
02They valued feeling safer and having regular health-service follow-up and team guidance.
03Barriers included appointment access, daily pill-taking, uncertainty about side effects, and stigma.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The 16 participants were mostly cisgender, white men who have sex with men, and were recruited from two centres in a municipality, so the themes may not represent other PrEP users. Only people who had already used PrEP for at least 90 days were included, so difficulties in the first weeks were not studied. It is a qualitative interview study, so it reports perceptions and barriers, not evidence that PrEP prevents HIV or that any practice change improves adherence. The researchers coded and validated the analysis themselves without software, and saturation was judged among the authors, so the analytic process may be less independent than some readers expect.
Declared interests
FAPESP in Brazil supported the study under Grant #2021/08247-1; no other conflicts are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that PrEP prevents HIV or that any intervention improves adherence. The study only describes what 16 PrEP users said about their experiences, and most were cisgender, white men who have sex with men.