LGBTQ+ Affirming Care May Increase Awareness and Understanding of Undetectable = Untransmittable among Midlife and Older Gay and Bisexual Men in the US South

Tara McKay (), Ellesse-Roselee Akré, Jeffrey Henne, Nitya Kari, Adam Conway and Isabel Gothelf
Additional contact information
Tara McKay: Department of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
Ellesse-Roselee Akré: Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
Jeffrey Henne: The Henne Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA 94107, USA
Nitya Kari: Department of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
Adam Conway: Department of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
Isabel Gothelf: Department of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: One of the most significant innovations in HIV prevention is the use of HIV treatment to prevent HIV transmission. This information has been disseminated as the “Undetectable = Untransmittable” (U = U) message. Despite evidence of effectiveness, U = U awareness, belief, and understanding remains limited in some communities. In this study, we examine whether having an LGBTQ affirming healthcare provider increases U = U awareness, belief, and understanding among midlife and older gay and bisexual men in the US south, an understudied and underserved population and region where new HIV infections are increasing. We used data from the Vanderbilt University Social Networks Aging and Policy Study (VUSNAPS) on sexual minority men aged 50 to 76 from four southern US states collected in 2020–2021. We found that only one in four men reported prior awareness of U = U, but awareness was higher among men who have an LGBTQ affirming provider. Among HIV negative men, those with an affirming provider were more likely to believe and understand U = U, have more accurate risk perception, and have ever tested for HIV. Improving access to LGBTQ affirming healthcare may improve U = U awareness, belief, and understanding, which could help to curb HIV transmission in the US south.

Keywords: affirming care; HIV; LGBTQ health; U = U; treatment as prevention; US (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10534/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/10534/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:17:p:10534-:d:896151

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().