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Links Between Sexual Orientation and Disclosure Among Black MSM: Sexual Orientation and Disclosure Matter for PrEP Awareness

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Abstract

The HIV epidemic in the United States has disproportionately burdened Black men who have sex with men (MSM), particularly in the South. While pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has high demonstrated efficacy, uptake is low among Black MSM. We utilized a sample of 345 HIV-negative or unknown HIV status Black MSM from Atlanta, Georgia. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models examined the effects of sexual orientation and disclosure on PrEP awareness and use. Despite the majority of the sample reporting PrEP awareness (91%), few Black MSM in our sample had ever used PrEP (10%). Bisexual Black MSM were less likely to have been aware of PrEP compared to their same-gender loving/gay counterparts. Black MSM who had disclosed their sexual orientation to some or all of the members of their networks were more aware of PrEP compared to their counterparts who reported lower levels of disclosure, but were not more likely to actually use PrEP. Alarmingly, the gap in PrEP awareness and use has not decreased over the past 5 years. These findings suggest that disclosure may be a relevant characteristic to consider for PrEP awareness, but there may be more to consider in closing the awareness-uptake gap among Black MSM.

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Funding

Research was funded by NIH Grants R01MH109409, R34MH115798, K01DA047918, T32AI102623, and K01DA042881.

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Correspondence to Ryan J. Watson.

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This research involved Human Subjects and was conducted with the approval of the University of Connecticut Institutional Review Board and research was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Watson, R.J., Eaton, L.A., Maksut, J.L. et al. Links Between Sexual Orientation and Disclosure Among Black MSM: Sexual Orientation and Disclosure Matter for PrEP Awareness. AIDS Behav 24, 39–44 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02696-1

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