CDIS Faculty Affiliate, Natasha Crooks, PhD and colleagues published a paper, “Barriers to PrEP uptake among Black female adolescents and emerging adults” in Preventative Medicine Reports. The purpose of this paper is to understand the characteristics of age, race, gender, history, and medical mistrust as barriers to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among Black female adolescents and emerging adults between the ages of 13-24 years in Chicago. The most commonly identified barriers to PrEP uptake were side effects, financial concerns, and medical mistrust . Less frequently reported barriers included lack of PrEP knowledge and misconceptions, stigma, and privacy concerns. The authors describe innovative multi-level strategies to provide culturally safe care to improve PrEP acceptability among Black female adolescents and emerging adults in Chicago. These recommendations may help mitigate the effect of medical mistrust, stigma, and misconceptions of PrEP within Black communities.
Crooks N, Singer RB, Smith A, Ott E, Donenberg G, Matthews AK, Patil CL, Haider S, Johnson AK. Barriers to PrEP uptake among Black female adolescents and emerging adults. Prev Med Rep. 2022 Nov 24;31:102062. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102062. PMID: 36467542; PMCID: PMC9712981.