Accessing HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: gay and bisexual men in the UK describe their experiences

Detailed annotations of interviews with gay and bisexual men (not full transcripts). A full summary of the project and its findings is offered in the project description. In 2005 men completing the online version of the Gay Men's Sex Survey who said they had ever tried to get PEP were invited to take part in a 30 minute telephone interview about their experiences. Interviewing took place between August and December 2005. The interviews were undertaken by two researchers and were audio tape-recorded with consent. These were used for anaytical and reflective thematic analysis undertaken by two researchers working independently. Because of the responsive nature of this work, undertaken to help inform the direction of intervention development and advocacy at a particular stage in the policy process, the team did not have the time or resource available to make full transcripts of the recordings. In addition to the use of these synopsis notes, key quotes were retrieved, analysed and utilised directly from the audio in the final report prior to the destruction of the recordings - so the annotated notes that remain for each interview should mainly considered as synopses. As such, these are not verbatim accounts of the interviews. This qualitative investigation sought to describe and examineo Gay and Bisexual men’s experiences of trying to access post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PEP) in England and Wales, following a series of information campaigns in 2004/5. The sample was drawn from those men who had participated in the annual Gay Men’s Sex Survey by Sigma Research, and who had indicated an interest in talking about their experiences of trying to access PEP after completing the survey online in 2005. Thirty men were interviewed by telephone about the specific circumstances that led them to seek PEP, how they knew about it, what they did before asking for it, and a detailed account of what happened when they presented for PEP in a clinical setting. Thematic analysis of these individual accounts offers detailed insights into the different ways that men come to know about PEP and seek support following risk incidents, as well as revealing the disparities in service provision across England and Wales. Not all of the men who received PEP reported satisfactory experiences with health care and reception staff, and some were inappropriately refused treatment, or attended clinics where staff were unaware of the existence of PEP.

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