Awareness, knowledge, and attitudes towards human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among pharmacy students

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to assess pharmacy students' awareness, knowledge, and perceptions towards human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), confidence and intentions to counsel patients on PrEP, and preferred PrEP training. Methods: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted with pharmacy students. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regressions were performed. Results: Ninety-one percent of participants were aware of PrEP and 61% were familiar with PrEP prescription guidelines. In multivariate analysis, greater PrEP knowledge, attitudes towards PrEP, and familiarity with prescribing guidelines were significantly associated with confidence in PrEP counseling (p < 0.01 for all). Males had significantly higher odds of reporting confidence in PrEP counseling relative to their female counterparts (p < 0.01). Relative to fourth year students, second year students were less likely to report confidence in PrEP counseling (p < 0.01). Participants who were familiar with prescribing guidelines had significantly higher odds of PrEP counseling intentions (p < 0.05). Preferred educational topics regarding PrEP included training on side effects and adherence monitoring (65% and 51%, respectively). The most preferred modalities for receiving PrEP education were online education (47%), educational seminars in required courses (43%), and self-study modules (39%). Conclusions: Given the key role played by pharmacists in patient engagement, they may be presented with opportunities to provide PrEP counseling and education. The development of educational modules for pharmacy students in an effort to increase PrEP uptake should consider addressing gaps in knowledge and preferred training modalities.