Article of the Year!

Newswise — The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) honors research led by Anne Teitelman, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, Associate Professor Emerita in Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health, as the 2021 JANAC (Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care) Article of the Year.

Teitelman’s  research team and their article, Just4Us: Development of a Counselor Navigator and Text Message Intervention to Promote PreP Uptake among Cisgender Women at Elevated Risk for HIV, will be honored during the 34th Annual ANAC Conference in Washington, D.C., November 11-13th, 2021. More about the article from its abstract:

In the United States, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among eligible cisgender women has been slow, despite the availability of oral PrEP since 2012. Although women make up nearly 20 percent of those living with HIV, there are currently few PrEP uptake interventions for cisgender women at elevated risk for acquiring HIV. This research describes the process used to design and pre-pilot test Just4Us, a theory-based behavioral intervention to promote PrEP initiation and adherence among PrEP-eligible cisgender women. This work was part of a multiphase study conducted in New York City and Philadelphia, two locations with HIV rates higher than the national average. The counselor-navigator component of the intervention was designed to be delivered in a 60- to 90-min in-person session in the community, followed by several phone calls to support linkage to care. An automated text messaging program was also designed for adherence support. Just4Us addressed personal and structural barriers to PrEP uptake using an empowerment framework by building on women's insights and resources to overcome barriers along the PrEP cascade. Usability pre-pilot testing results were favorable and provided valuable feedback used to refine the intervention.

“This award recognizes the importance of research aimed at promoting informed decision-making about PrEP among cisgender women who could benefit from biomedical HIV prevention. PrEP can be empowering as it is a woman-controlled HIV prevention modality,” said Teitelman. “The Just4Us intervention is among the first to address the lack of widespread awareness of PrEP, misinformation, and limited access among cisgender women in the U.S.”

Click here to download a podcast featuring Dr. Teitelman in which she discusses this article.