Table 3.
Primary care providers’ self-reported HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) knowledge, attitudes, and prescribing behaviors (n = 128).
| Overall sample(n = 128)n, (%) | |
|---|---|
| Knowledge* | Good/Very Good/Excellent |
| Before today, how would you rate your knowledge of PrEP? | 71 (55.5) |
| Before today, how would you rate your knowledge of PrEP’s potential side effects (eg, renal dysfunction)? | 53 (41.4) |
| Before today, how would you rate your knowledge of baseline lab testing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before starting PrEP? | 49 (38.3) |
| Before today, how would you rate your knowledge of ongoing lab safety monitoring recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for continued prescribing of PrEP? | 48 (37.6) |
| Before today, how would you rate your knowledge of screening for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) other than HIV recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for patients prescribed PrEP? | 81 (63.4) |
| Attitudes† | Moderately/Extremely |
| How effective do you think PrEP is in preventing acquisition of HIV among people who take it every day as prescribed? | 126 (98.5) |
| Based on your understanding of PrEP side effects, how safe is PrEP? | 120 (93.7) |
| How likely are you to prescribe PrEP in the next 6 months? | 56 (43.8) |
| If you identified a patient at high risk for HIV acquisition, how comfortable would you be with prescribing PrEP? | 82 (64.1) |
| How likely do you think the patient would be to increase his/her sexual risk-taking practices (eg, decrease condom use) as a result of being on PrEP? | 30 (23.4) |
| How likely do you think the patient would be to decrease his/her sexual risk-taking practices (eg, increase condom use) as a result of being on PrEP? | 22 (17.2) |
| Prescribing behaviors | |
| Have you ever been asked about PrEP by a patient? (yes) n, (%) | 69 (54) |
| Have you ever initiated a conversation about PrEP with a patient? (yes) n, (%) | 50 (39) |
| Have you ever prescribed PrEP to a patient? (yes) n, (%) | 59 (46) |
| How many prescriptions for PrEP have you prescribed in the past 6 months? Mean (SD) | 1.4 (0.5) |
*
Knowledge questions on a 1 to 5 Likert scale (1 = “poor”; 5 = “excellent”).
†
Attitude questions on a 1 to 4 Likert scale (1 = “not at all”; 4 = “extremely”).