Intentions to prescribe preexposure prophylaxis are associated with self-efficacy and normative beliefs

摘要

To the Editor-We read with interest the article by Karris et al [1], which describes that although a majority of North American infectious disease physicians (74%) support the provision of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to at-risk individuals, strikingly few (9%) had prescribed PrEP. However, there remains a paucity of data regarding the views of primary care providers, who are best poised to prescribe PrEP to at-risk, HIV-negative patients. We conducted an online survey in December 2012 to understand factors associated with intentions to prescribe PrEP among physicians in the United States. Using a model based on the theory of planned behavior, we hypothesized that physicians' intentions to prescribe PrEP are driven by attitudes, self-efficacy, and normative beliefs [2-4].