Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Dr. Hadi Danawi

Abstract

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an innovative biomedical approach that has been used over the past 6 years to avert the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Under-prescribing of PrEP could increase the probability of HIV exposure among serodiscordant couples/partners and those who do not practice safe sex. Previous PrEP research has not assessed the association between awareness of PrEP, years of experience of providers, provider types, and the frequency of PrEP prescription among physicians. Precaution adoption model framed this study, which aimed to evaluate the bond between the independent variables relating to awareness of PrEP, years of experience, and provider types with the outcome of the frequency of PrEP prescription among physicians. A cross-sectional design was applied to survey 100 physician participants. Kendall's tau-b correlation test and Fisher's exact test were used to analyze the research questions. Eighty-seven percent of the surveyed physicians had low awareness about PrEP, and 90% never prescribed PrEP. Lack of awareness was the primary barrier to prescribing PrEP at the providers' level. Kendall's tau-b correlation test showed that higher awareness of PrEP and years of experience were associated with the frequency of PrEP prescription at 95% confidence interval. However, Fisher's exact test showed an insignificant difference between provider types and the frequency of PrEP Prescription. These findings support the notion that independent of specialty, the more physicians know about PrEP and the more years of experience they have, the more they prescribe it. The results and recommendations could enhance positive social change by providing information to develop an inclusive PrEP education curriculum for health care professionals.

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