Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study
BackgroundSexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective biomedical HIV prevention method, but its awareness and uptake among SGM adolescents are low. There are no...
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| Format: | Article |
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JMIR Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | JMIR Formative Research |
| Online Access: | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e60398 |
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| author | Kathryn Macapagal Juan Pablo Zapata Junye Ma Jacob D Gordon Christopher Owens Silvia Valadez-Tapia Peter Cummings Nathan Walter Jim Pickett |
| author_facet | Kathryn Macapagal Juan Pablo Zapata Junye Ma Jacob D Gordon Christopher Owens Silvia Valadez-Tapia Peter Cummings Nathan Walter Jim Pickett |
| author_sort | Kathryn Macapagal |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundSexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective biomedical HIV prevention method, but its awareness and uptake among SGM adolescents are low. There are no adolescent-centered PrEP social marketing campaigns in the United States that have the potential to increase awareness and interest in PrEP.
ObjectiveTo address this gap, this qualitative study aims to examine SGM adolescents’ needs and preferences regarding adolescent-centered PrEP social marketing campaigns.
MethodsSGM adolescents from Chicago and its surrounding areas participated in web-based asynchronous focus groups from February to May 2021. Questions elicited their preferences for content, design, and delivery of SGM adolescent–centered PrEP campaigns. We used rapid qualitative data analysis and organized the findings around key components of social marketing, known as the 4 Ps: product, price, place, and promotion.
ResultsParticipants (N=56) were aged 14 to 19 years (mean 18.16, SD 1.22 y), and 64% (36/56) of them identified as a racial or ethnic minority. Among the 56 participants, 70% (n=39) were aware of PrEP; however, 95% (n=53) did not know that PrEP could be prescribed to those aged under 18 years. Adolescents expressed a need for PrEP campaign messaging that provides simple, accurate, and easily accessible information (eg, what is PrEP, for whom PrEP is indicated, and where and how to access PrEP). For product and price, SGM adolescents wanted a campaign to address barriers to, costs of, and how to access PrEP and desired to know about other adolescents’ PrEP experiences to improve campaign relatability. For place and promotion, participants preferred digital campaigns on social media to reduce the possibility of embarrassment and stigma and increase the accessibility of health content.
ConclusionsThese findings lay the groundwork for designing adolescent-centered educational PrEP campaigns that prioritize both user preferences in PrEP marketing design and strategies to overcome common barriers to PrEP awareness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d72971f3bac44de78b09e9e7393f05d9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2561-326X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Formative Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-d72971f3bac44de78b09e9e7393f05d92025-01-17T15:45:53ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2025-01-019e6039810.2196/60398Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation StudyKathryn Macapagalhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1208-6097Juan Pablo Zapatahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1996-6863Junye Mahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1353-1279Jacob D Gordonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9876-5463Christopher Owenshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2729-151XSilvia Valadez-Tapiahttps://orcid.org/0009-0008-5733-5246Peter Cummingshttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1536-3392Nathan Walterhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8122-1221Jim Picketthttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4445-232X BackgroundSexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective biomedical HIV prevention method, but its awareness and uptake among SGM adolescents are low. There are no adolescent-centered PrEP social marketing campaigns in the United States that have the potential to increase awareness and interest in PrEP. ObjectiveTo address this gap, this qualitative study aims to examine SGM adolescents’ needs and preferences regarding adolescent-centered PrEP social marketing campaigns. MethodsSGM adolescents from Chicago and its surrounding areas participated in web-based asynchronous focus groups from February to May 2021. Questions elicited their preferences for content, design, and delivery of SGM adolescent–centered PrEP campaigns. We used rapid qualitative data analysis and organized the findings around key components of social marketing, known as the 4 Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. ResultsParticipants (N=56) were aged 14 to 19 years (mean 18.16, SD 1.22 y), and 64% (36/56) of them identified as a racial or ethnic minority. Among the 56 participants, 70% (n=39) were aware of PrEP; however, 95% (n=53) did not know that PrEP could be prescribed to those aged under 18 years. Adolescents expressed a need for PrEP campaign messaging that provides simple, accurate, and easily accessible information (eg, what is PrEP, for whom PrEP is indicated, and where and how to access PrEP). For product and price, SGM adolescents wanted a campaign to address barriers to, costs of, and how to access PrEP and desired to know about other adolescents’ PrEP experiences to improve campaign relatability. For place and promotion, participants preferred digital campaigns on social media to reduce the possibility of embarrassment and stigma and increase the accessibility of health content. ConclusionsThese findings lay the groundwork for designing adolescent-centered educational PrEP campaigns that prioritize both user preferences in PrEP marketing design and strategies to overcome common barriers to PrEP awareness.https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e60398 |
| spellingShingle | Kathryn Macapagal Juan Pablo Zapata Junye Ma Jacob D Gordon Christopher Owens Silvia Valadez-Tapia Peter Cummings Nathan Walter Jim Pickett Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study JMIR Formative Research |
| title | Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study |
| title_full | Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study |
| title_fullStr | Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study |
| title_short | Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents’ Preferences for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Social Marketing Campaigns: Qualitative Preimplementation Study |
| title_sort | sexual and gender minority adolescents preferences for hiv pre exposure prophylaxis social marketing campaigns qualitative preimplementation study |
| url | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e60398 |
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