PrEPwise Pilot Among Black Women in Eastern Virginia

Summary

HIV is a virus that affects many people, but Black women in the U.S. are a population at a much higher risk of getting it compared to white women-about 18 times higher. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a medicine if taken as recommended by a clinician can prevent HIV almost completely (99% effective). The problem is that many Black women, especially those living in the Southern U.S., don't know about this medicine called PrEP or find it hard to access it. To address this, healthcare providers sometimes use "decision aids" which are tools, like brochures or videos, designed to help people understand their medical options and make informed choices based on what's important to them. While these tools have worked well for other health issues, they haven't been widely used for preventing HIV. The challenges are doctors do not have enough time to explain PrEP fully to patients during clinic visits and also some Black women do not trust the healthcare system because of a long history of unfair treatment toward Black communities.

Community health workers (CHWs) are trained health workers from the same communities as their patients and can facilitate their ability to provide culturally appropriate health education and information consistent with patients' values and needs. Because of this, patients are often more comfortable talking to them. This project aims to test the acceptability and effectiveness of a decision tool to be integrated into HIV testing services to help Black women decide if PrEP is right for them. The investigators are calling this intervention PrEPwise. A tool originally designed for women dealing with opioid addiction will be adapted to fit the needs of Black women living in the South. The long-term goal of this project is to make it easier for Black women to learn about PrEP and decide whether to use it, ultimately helping lower the number of new HIV cases in Black women.

Conditions

• HIV Infections
• Sexually Transmitted Infection

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

PrEPwise

PrEPwise intervention is a tablet-based PrEP decision aid delivered by community health workers (CHW) to Black women in the context of their regular HIV testing visits. The intervention includes: Tailored PrEP decision aid providing information on HIV risks, PrEP choices, PrEP costs, how to use PrEP, Adherence guidance, side effects, and access points for obtaining PrEP.

OTHER

Usual care

Usual care includes providing general HIV prevention information, basic PrEP information, and information about other available clinic services.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Boston University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sylvia Shangani, PhD · Boston University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2027-04-30

Primary Completion

2028-07-31

Completion

2028-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations