Predictors of men's attitudes toward use of PEP among 275 HIV-negative and 58 HIV-discordant gay male couples

Although between 1/3 and 2/3 of gay men acquire HIV within the context of a relationship (e.g., gay male couples), few HIV prevention interventions currently exist for this at-risk group. New prevention methods are available that incorporate the use of HIV treatments for prevention of new infections among HIV-negative individuals, including post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). However, the attitudes of whether men among HIV-negative seroconcordant or HIV-discordant gay male couples will use PEP remain unknown. The present study aimed to identify which demographic and relationship characteristics were associated with men's attitude toward use of PEP among a sample of 275 HIV-negative and 58 HIV-discordant gay male couples. In this cross-section study, dyadic data from a convenience sample of 333 dyads were collected electronically throughout the U.S. Men in each dyad completed the questionnaire independently. Descriptive statistics and multilevel modeling were used to identify predictors of men's attitudes toward use of PEP. Results from this study found that 28% of men had previously heard of PEP, 9% were somewhat likely, 16% were very likely, and 57% were extremely likely to use PEP. Men's attitude did not significantly differ by couples' HIV-status, race or education level. Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that lower attitudes toward use of PEP were associated with couples who had a greater age difference between partners, and among those who had a greater relationship duration. Other results will be presented and implications for targeting the use of PEP for at-risk negative and discordant gay male couples will be discussed.