Table 5.

Now, imagine you started taking PrEP without your parents knowing about it. How do you think your parents would react if they found out you were taking PrEP?

Themes	K	Definition	Example
Angry (n=187)	.79	Participant discusses possibilities and varying levels of anger, fury, or overreaction that can result from discovering participant’s PrEP use.	“They would be shocked and probably upset.”
Ask questions/ inquisitive (n=121)	.82	Participant describes how parents would ask them many questions about PrEP/the pills	“My mom would ask A LOT of questions and she would most likely say I was being smart.. My dad would be mad because he doesn’t approve of me being with boys.”
Punish (n=72)	.76	Participant discusses the varying levels of punishment or abuse that can result from parents finding PrEP; homelessness, confiscation, disownment, grounded	“My mom would probably die, like no joke bc right now she’s super stressed out bc of my Dad. But if my Dad found out he’d probably slap me across the face bc that means 1) I’m taking drugs 2) I’m sexually active with a culturally perceived ‘wrong sex’”
Question sexual activity (n=63)	.80	Participant describes how finding out they are taking PrEP may cause their parents to assume they are having sex or ask related questions	“Once they found out, my parents probably would assume that I have HIV and assume that I am having sex every day. I would like to think they would be calm, but I feel they would be… be grossed out.”
Be supportive (n=49)	.76	Participant broadly describes how parents would ultimately be supportive of them taking PrEP; mentioning how PrEP would be positively perceived; mentioning that parents would be proud	“They’ll be happy I’m safe. They would obviously have questions, but my dad would probably be relatively supportive.”
Mistake for PrEP for illegal drugs (n=32)	.90	Participant describes how parents might mistake PrEP for illegal drugs or recreation pharmaceuticals	“They would be worried it was some other kind of pill and they’d probably take it away because they don’t want me taking medication they don’t think I need.”

Note. N=491