"I'm a really hard stick": barriers, facilitators, and preferences in emergency department HIV testing among people who inject drugs.

ABSTRACT: Suffolk County, Massachusetts is an Ending the HIV Epidemic priority area with an ongoing cluster of HIV transmission among people who inject drugs, many of whom accessed care in emergency departments prior to diagnosis but were not offered HIV testing. Emergency-department-based HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis initiation have thus become local public health priorities. We conducted a content analysis of in-depth interviews with 26 people who inject drugs recruited from a substance use disorder clinic in Suffolk County serving people who received initial care in the emergency department. Interview questions investigated acceptability, barriers, and facilitators to HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis initiation in the emergency department for people who inject drugs. Mean age

SUBMITTER: Adan MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12351662 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature