Accessing HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: gay and bisexual men in the UK describe their experiences

Dodds, Catherine A and Keogh, Peter G and Weatherburn, Peter (2017). Accessing HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: gay and bisexual men in the UK describe their experiences. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-852745

This qualitative investigation sought to describe and examineo Gay and Bisexual men’s experiences of trying to access post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PEP) in England and Wales, following a series of information campaigns in 2004/5. The sample was drawn from those men who had participated in the annual Gay Men’s Sex Survey by Sigma Research, and who had indicated an interest in talking about their experiences of trying to access PEP after completing the survey online in 2005. Thirty men were interviewed by telephone about the specific circumstances that led them to seek PEP, how they knew about it, what they did before asking for it, and a detailed account of what happened when they presented for PEP in a clinical setting. Thematic analysis of these individual accounts offers detailed insights into the different ways that men come to know about PEP and seek support following risk incidents, as well as revealing the disparities in service provision across England and Wales. Not all of the men who received PEP reported satisfactory experiences with health care and reception staff, and some were inappropriately refused treatment, or attended clinics where staff were unaware of the existence of PEP.

Data description (abstract)

Detailed annotations of interviews with gay and bisexual men (not full transcripts). A full summary of the project and its findings is offered in the project description. In 2005 men completing the online version of the Gay Men's Sex Survey who said they had ever tried to get PEP were invited to take part in a 30 minute telephone interview about their experiences. Interviewing took place between August and December 2005. The interviews were undertaken by two researchers and were audio tape-recorded with consent. These were used for anaytical and reflective thematic analysis undertaken by two researchers working independently. Because of the responsive nature of this work, undertaken to help inform the direction of intervention development and advocacy at a particular stage in the policy process, the team did not have the time or resource available to make full transcripts of the recordings. In addition to the use of these synopsis notes, key quotes were retrieved, analysed and utilised directly from the audio in the final report prior to the destruction of the recordings - so the annotated notes that remain for each interview should mainly considered as synopses. As such, these are not verbatim accounts of the interviews.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Dodds Catherine A	University of Glasgow	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-5819
Keogh Peter G	Open University	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4490-0743
Weatherburn Peter	London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine	https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4950-6163

Sponsors:

Department of Health via CHAPS

Topic classification:

Health

Keywords:

HIV; homosexuality; health; sex; sexual health; public health; health advice; health education; disease prevention; preventive medicine; health risks; risk perception; health risk perception; risk; new technology; technological change; technological literacy; clinical medicine

Project title:

Accessing HIV post-exposure prophylaxis: gay and bisexual men in the UK describe their experiences

Grant holders:

Catherine Dodds, Peter Keogh, Peter Weatherburn

Project dates:

From	To
1 July 2005	31 October 2006

Date published:

19 Sep 2017 12:58

Last modified:

19 Sep 2017 12:58

Coverage and Methodology

Collection period:

Date from:	Date to:
1 August 2005	31 December 2005

Country:

England, Wales

Data collection method:

In 2005 men completing the online version of the Gay Men’s Sex Survey who said they had ever tried to get PEP were invited to take part in a 30 minute telephone interview about their experiences.
Telephone interviewing enabled men from a range of geographical locations to be interviewed at a time and place that suited them. Initial screening ensured that only those who had attempted to access PEP in the UK following a sexual (rather than occupational) exposure took part. Interviewing took place between August and December 2005. The interviews were undertaken by two researchers and were audio tape-recorded with consent. Detailed annotations were made of the recordings which were used for analytical coding (in the case of close-ended questions) and reflective thematic analysis (in the case of open ended responses).
At interview, men were asked to describe their knowledge and awareness of PEP prior to the most recent time they sought help in relation to a potential sexual exposure incident, their experiences of seeking advice or information about accessing PEP and what happened when they tried to access PEP. Men were also asked about their satisfaction with the clinical process, who else they had told about their experience, and what affect they thought it had on future HIV-related risk. Those who were prescribed PEP were asked about follow-up care and side effects. Men who had tried to access PEP more than once were asked about their most recent experience first, and then asked for a brief account of the previous occasions when they had attempted to access PEP.

Observation unit:

Individual

Kind of data:

Text

Type of data:

Qualitative and mixed methods data

Resource language:

English

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

Prior to deposit with UKDA, extensive work was undertaken to ensure all data in this collection have had potential identifiers removed. While seeking to preserve the integrity of the data, we removed all names of individuals. Where deemed to be potentially disclosive, we also removed the names of organisations and/or locations if it was determined by two researchers that varied combinations of organisational names (ie. workplaces, hospital names and/or names of small towns or non-urban geographical locations). Where the names of organisations or locations remain, this is because the researchers decided that within the context of a particular individual narrative, these were unlikely to be disclosive. Given the highly sensitive nature of this data collection, in which men were asked to give accounts of sexual behaviour that then gave them cause for concern about HIV exposure, there are access restrictions on this data. At the time that participants offered consent to take part in this study, it was not envisaged that the data might someday be deposited with the UKDA. The research team responsible for depositing this data is confident that we have done everything possible to remove information that is potentially disclosive of participants’ identities, although this is never a fail-safe process.

Rights owners:

Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Dodds Catherine A	University of Glasgow	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-5819

Contact:

Name	Email	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Dodds, Catherine D	catherine.dodds@glasgow.ac.uk	University of Glasgow	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-5819

Notes on access:

The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service. All requests are subject to the permission of the data owner or his/her nominee. Please email the contact person for this data collections to request permission to access the data, explaining your reason for wanting access to do the data. Once permission is obtained, please forward this to the ReShare administrator.

Publisher:

UK Data Archive

Last modified:

19 Sep 2017 12:58