Youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) have a high risk of contracting HIV; however, they remain relatively unreached by pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)-based HIV prevention initiatives. We used a cross-sectional mixed-methods study to explore PrEP knowledge, interest, facilitators, and barriers among YEH. Young adults were recruited from agencies serving YEH in Houston, TX (n = 30) and Los Angeles, CA (n = 15) to participate in an electronic self-report survey and a semistructured interview. Survey results indicate that 68.2% of YEH had low or no prior knowledge of PrEP, though 63.7% reported interest in taking PrEP. Qualitative results revealed facilitators of PrEP use, including high PrEP acceptability and awareness, and supportive social networks. Several barriers emerged, including medication-related barriers, adherence, cost, access barriers, low perceived HIV risk, perceived stigma of PrEP use, and low PrEP awareness. Despite high PrEP acceptability, PrEP use among YEH remains low partly due to low PrEP awareness, low perceived HIV risk, and medical mistrust.

中文翻译：

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经历无家可归的年轻人对PrEP摄取的影响：混合方法研究

经历无家可归（YEH）的青年感染艾滋病毒的风险很高；但是，基于暴露前预防（PrEP）的HIV预防措施仍然相对较弱。我们使用横断面混合方法研究来探索YEH中的PrEP知识，兴趣，促进者和障碍。年轻人是从在德克萨斯州休斯敦（n = 30）和加利福尼亚州洛杉矶（n = 15）的YEH服务机构招募的，他们参加了电子自我报告调查和半结构式访谈。调查结果表明，尽管有63.7％的人表示有兴趣服用PrEP，但68.2％的YEH以前对PrEP的了解很少或没有。定性结果显示促进PrEP使用，包括较高的PrEP可接受性和知名度以及支持性社交网络。出现了一些障碍，包括与药物相关的障碍，依从性，成本，获取障碍，艾滋病毒感染风险低，对PrEP使用的污名化和PrEP意识低。尽管PrEP的接受度很高，但是在YEH中使用PrEP的人数仍然很少，这部分是由于PrEP意识低，艾滋病毒感染风险低以及医疗不信任。