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Reddit on PrEP: Posts About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV from Reddit Users, 2014–2019

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Abstract

Social media forums provide a window into how gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men talk about pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention (PrEP) outside of research contexts. To examine information exchange about this important pillar of HIV prevention, discussions around PrEP were collected from the r/askgaybros subreddit of the social media site Reddit (2014–2019). Post titles and asks were qualitatively coded to identify themes describing the primary purpose of the post. In all, 1163 PrEP posts were identified, and a 23.3-fold increase in post volume was seen from 2014 (n = 20) to 2019 (n = 466). The most common post type was a mention of PrEP in a post primarily discussing: an assessment of risk after a sexual encounter (19.2%); a sexual or romantic relationship (6.0%); or other (29.3%). Access challenges (19.1%), information seeking (17.5%), and the cultural effects of PrEP on the gay community (16.3%) were other common themes. Posts regarding the initiation of PrEP (11.8%) and PrEP side-effects (9.4%) were moderately represented. Posts addressing promotion, shade, stigma, and usage were infrequent (≤ 5.5% of posts, respectively). Over time, discussion of PrEP has increased exponentially on r/askgaybros, which may reflect the normalization of PrEP. Qualitative analysis of these posts can be a rich source of data for scientists, practitioners, and healthcare providers interested in increasing uptake of PrEP and decreasing barriers to its use.

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Data Availability

All data publicly available on Reddit.com.

Code Availability

Code can be made available upon request.

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The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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  1. Penny S. Loosier and Kaytlin Renfro are co-first authors.

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  1. Division of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd NE, MS US12-2, Atlanta, GA, 30329-4027, USA

    Penny S. Loosier, Kaytlin Renfro, Monique Carry, Samantha P. Williams, Matthew Hogben & Sevgi Aral

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Contributions

MH and SA were responsible for the initial concept of using Reddit to collect user data on PrEP. All authors conceptualized the current study. KR scraped Reddit data. PL, MC, KR, and SW created, refined, and tested codebook. PL and KR did iterative codebook testing until concordance was reached. PL and KR coded all data. PL and KR led writing efforts. All authors reviewed, revised, and finalized the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Penny S. Loosier.

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Loosier, P.S., Renfro, K., Carry, M. et al. Reddit on PrEP: Posts About Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV from Reddit Users, 2014–2019. AIDS Behav 26, 1084–1094 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03463-x

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