The Impact of an Intervention to Reduce Pharmacists' Racial Bias Towards People of Color at Risk of HIV
Massachusetts General Hospital
Summary
This study will follow the ADAPT-ITT model to apply the Prejudice Habit Breaking Intervention (PHBI) to pharmacists who have experience with or are willing to prescribe PrEP. We will first collect qualitative data through focus group discussions guided by the Health Equity Implementation Framework (HEIF) on determinants related to the intervention itself, pharmacists, and the community pharmacy context that may impact implementation of the PHBI. Then, we will use this information to adapt the PHBI in an iterative process involving topic experts, pharmacists, and PrEP users. We will then determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of the adapted PHBI to reduce implicit racial bias.
Description
People of color (POC) accounted for nearly 70% of HIV new cases in the US in 2020, compared to 26% of new infections occurring among White individuals. Significant further racial disparities exist in the PrEP care continuum. For example, per the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 66% of White people eligible for PrEP received prescriptions compared to 26% of POC. To expand access to PrEP, the role of the pharmacist in HIV care is increasing. In the context of PrEP, pharmacists may assess eligibility for PrEP, initiate it, monitor use, and provide counseling. Pharmacist-led PrEP cli…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: Three types of participants will be included 1. Pharmacy interns: * Pharmacy intern (non-licensed individual undergoing training and preparations for licensure examination). * Currently registered as a regular student in the School of Pharmacy, Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University, Boston, MA. * Doing the internship in pharmacies located in cities with the highest average annual rate of HIV infection diagnosis in Suffolk County, MA. * Experience with PrEP (counsel PrEP candidates, complete PrEP continuing education activity, or awarenes…
Interventions
- BehavioralThe adapted PHBI
The adapted intervention is expected to be an online 60-minute video with an educational part about implicit racial bias, its consequences in healthcare inequalities, how to mitigate it, and seven case scenarios (5 minutes each) to train pharmacy interns on aspects related to cultural competency and how and when to use IBMS to reduce the impact of bias on prescribing PrEP for people of color.
- BehavioralThe NIH Implicit Bias course
The NIH Implicit Bias course consists of three modules designed to teach users what bias is, how to recognize it, and how to minimize its impact
Location
- Massachusetts General HospitalBoston, Massachusetts