Using Youth Participatory Action Research to Scale Up Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) in the Southern United States
Abstract
The recently launched initiative, Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE), provides a targeted plan to end HIV in the United States (US) by 2030, and prioritizes key demographic groups and geographic areas that are disproportionately burdened by HIV. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth, especially Black and Latiné youth (SGMBLY), are a key population for EHE as they have experienced the largest increase in new HIV rates in recent decades. States identified by EHE are disproportionately located in the Southern US, where increasing the uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV has been a challenge. Though proven effective, youth participatory action research (YPAR) methods have been underutilized for HIV prevention interventions. The purpose of the current study is to lay the foundation for an intervention using YPAR to prevent HIV among SGMBLY, with a specific focus on scaling up PrEP in Southern communities. The aims of this study are threefold: 1) examine HIV/PrEP knowledge and barriers for SGMBLY’s engagement in HIV prevention interventions in South Carolina (SC), 2) develop a set of recommendations on how community-based organizations (CBOs) and healthcare clinics can better engage youth in HIV prevention across SC, and 3) disseminate findings with key community leaders and organizations across SC. This formative investigation will help uncover the barriers to HIV prevention in the South and develop new approaches to engaging marginalized youth in the development and implementation of HIV prevention interventions.