On May 14, 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed the drug Truvada as an HIV preventative, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of HIV infection, but its rate of adoption has been slow, and discourse surrounding it has been marked by stigma and uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to investigate how PrEP was discussed on Twitter. Our analysis focused on barriers to PrEP adoption and stigmatization of PrEP users. We analyzed a random sample of 1,093 top tweets about PrEP posted to Twitter a year before and a year after the CDC's endorsement. Our results showed that tweets likely reinforced uncertainty about barriers to PrEP adoption and that users employed Twitter's functionality to counter stigmatizing narratives about PrEP. We suggest that our findings illuminate both the limitations and strengths of Twitter as a mechanism for health promotion.
HIV is a serious problem in the USA, particularly for men who have sex with men (MSM). A new means of HIV prevention, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), has been shown to be highly effective. However, in spite of earning FDA approval, adoption of PrEP by MSM has been limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of a sample of 38 MSM who have adopted PrEP, focusing on communication with healthcare providers and social networks. In-depth interviews were used to collect data. Findings revealed that stigmatization by healthcare providers as well as stigmatization by other MSM was a relatively common experience for participants. Additionally, participants described that a high level of health literacy, health advocacy, and communication skill were necessary to adopt PrEP. Given these findings, strategies are suggested for improving MSM's healthcare and increasing rates of PrEP adoption.
While immigration remained a prominent and divisive issue during the past century, 1 the debate has recently resurfaced as immigration numbers remain high. President Obama's DREAM Act, which sought to legalize undocumented immigrants living in the United States, was voted down in the Senate in December 2010. 2 The opposition has gained a sense of urgency as demographic trends show that whites will constitute a minority of the population by 2050. 3 Given that a region's ethnic composition may affect how stories are shared among its residents, 4 the purpose of this study is to examine how controversial immigration legislation was framed in California newspapers. This study will address the following broad research question: Does geo-ethnic context influence the frames that are most prominent in different regions' newspapers?California newspapers are ideal for examining this issue because of the state's large immigrant population, 5 its shared border with Mexico, and the state's unique role when it comes to immigration. Due in part to the state's long history with racial strife involving newcomers to the state 6 and because of the state's ballot initiative, which allows for legislation to be introduced by popular vote, 7 California serves as a "bellwether state in forecasting social change in the rest of the United States," especially for immigration. 8 We examined the news coverage in California daily newspapers of various sizes, each with a different geographic location and with different proportions of Latinos in each readership, to determine whether frames shift in accordance with those differences.In 2006, millions of immigrants protested against H.R. 4437, a new bill in Congress that threatened to treat undocumented immigrants as felons. Content analysis of news coverage of the bill reveals that frames of the restrictionist legislation varied based on race and geography of the surrounding community. These results suggest that geo-ethnic context, which has been studied in terms of communication infrastructure within communities, should be taken into account when trying to understand how an issue is framed, particularly when trying to explain and predict why and when certain frames might occur.
This study focuses on how gay men communicate about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), focusing on how they learned about PrEP, how they discussed adoption with health care providers, and to what extent they have encountered stigma on social networks. In this qualitative study, 39 gay PrEP users were interviewed about PrEP. A majority of the participants learned about PrEP via friends and potential sex partners, and a majority of the participants experienced stigma from their health care provider and from other gay men online, mainly referring to promiscuity and risks of STIs. The authors recommend that health care providers should be trained in minimizing the expression of stigmatizing attitudes and should increase their knowledge of PrEP.
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