Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
3-1-2022
Journal
AIDS Care
Abstract
Community-clinic linkages may help communities increase HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake. Referrals from community-based organizations may be particularly important for linking Black men who have sex with men (MSM) to PrEP. This study describes PrEP referral and HIV/STI prevention networks among organizations that serve MSM in Houston, TX (N = 40), and Chicago, IL (N = 28), and compares network positions of organizations based on percentage of Black/African American clients. A majority of organizations conducted PrEP awareness/promotion activities, but fewer made PrEP referrals, with little overlap between the collaboration and referral networks. The networks tended to have a densely connected core group of organizations and more a peripheral group of organizations linking into the core with relatively few times among themselves; this core/periphery structure is efficient, but vulnerable to disruptions. The percentage of Black/African American clients organizations served was not related to most measures of network centrality. However, in Houston's collaboration network, higher Black-serving organizations tended not to hold as influential positions for controlling communications or flows of resources. The findings indicate a potential to leverage collaborations into PrEP referral pathways to enhance PrEP promotion efforts and identify opportunities to address racial disparities in PrEP uptake.
Keywords
Black or African American, Anti-HIV Agents, HIV Infections, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Homosexuality, Male, Humans, Male, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, Referral and Consultation, Sexual and Gender Minorities, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, social network analysis, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), health disparities, young black men who have sex with men, PrEP referral networks
DOI
10.1080/09540121.2021.1936445
PMID
34085893
PMCID
PMC8642466
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
3-1-2023
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Author MSS
Published Open-Access
yes