News Finding: "One takeaway is that HIV-negative black MSM want to be better attended to by public health HIV prevention, beyond counseling and testing," said Jagadisa-devasri Dacus, Ph.D., LMSW, who conducted the study and is the lead author of the article.
Paper Finding: In that study, condom use was more likely among those who decided ahead of time to use a condom, but less likely, regardless of advanced planning about whether to use a condom, when hard drugs were used prior to sex .
News Context: Consequently, participants did not mention PrEP as part of their strategy to prevent HIV acquisition, as it was not publicly available to them at the time of the study. "One takeaway is that HIV-negative black MSM want to be better attended to by public health HIV prevention, beyond counseling and testing," said Jagadisa-devasri Dacus, Ph.D., LMSW, who conducted the study and is the lead author of the article. "The scarcity of programs and interventions to support their maintained HIV negativity needs to be addressed as a primary prevention effort."
Paper Context: It was not clear from our interviews whether the men have strategies for remembering to carry condoms, but advance planning could determine whether or not a condom is used during the sexual event. In that study, condom use was more likely among those who decided ahead of time to use a condom, but less likely, regardless of advanced planning about whether to use a condom, when hard drugs were used prior to sex . Of note, in some cases planning behaviors around drinking and drug use among men in this study seemed to be a conscious effort to avoid factors that could interfere with condom use, while in other cases the behaviors seem to be more a desire to avoid social danger associated with losing control.