Awareness of, Willingness to Take PrEP and Its Actual Use Among Belgian MSM at High Risk of HIV Infection: Secondary Analysis of the Belgian European MSM Internet Survey

We examined PrEP awareness, willingness to take it and early PrEP use among men who have sex with men (MSM) at increased risk of HIV acquisition in Belgium. This analysis of the Belgian EMIS online data of 2017–2018 adopts a cascade approach, with the following steps quantified as conditional probab...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIDS and behavior 2022-06, Vol.26 (6), p.1793-1807
Main Authors: Buffel, Veerle, Reyniers, Thijs, Masquillier, Caroline, Thunissen, Estrelle, Nöstlinger, Christiana, Laga, Marie, Wouters, Edwin, Berghe, Wim Vanden, Deblonde, Jessika, Vuylsteke, Bea
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Belgium - epidemiology
Disease prevention
Economic problems
Female
Gays & lesbians
Health behavior
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Psychology
HIV
HIV Infections - epidemiology
HIV Infections - prevention & control
Homosexuality, Male
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Infectious Diseases
Internet
LGBTQ people
Male
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Men who have sex with men
Mens health
Mental depression
Motivation
Original Paper
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
Public Health
Safe sexual practices
Secondary analysis
Sexual and Gender Minorities
Sexual behavior
Sexual Partners
Sexuality
Sexually transmitted diseases
STD
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Summary:We examined PrEP awareness, willingness to take it and early PrEP use among men who have sex with men (MSM) at increased risk of HIV acquisition in Belgium. This analysis of the Belgian EMIS online data of 2017–2018 adopts a cascade approach, with the following steps quantified as conditional probabilities: being eligible for, aware of, willing to take PrEP, and PrEP use. One out of three MSM was eligible to use PrEP according to the operationalized Belgian reimbursement criteria. PrEP awareness was lower among socioeconomically vulnerable MSM, MSM living outside large cities, MSM who were less open about their sexuality and those who did not identify as gay or homosexual. A lack of PrEP knowledge, a higher self-efficacy regarding safe sex, having a steady partner and reporting more symptoms of depression were related to unwillingness to use PrEP. Among those willing to take PrEP, less than one third were actually using PrEP. Not using PrEP was associated with living in small cities and experiencing financial problems.
ISSN:1090-7165
1573-3254
DOI:10.1007/s10461-021-03526-z