A rocky road to resiliency: An exploration of GetaKit by BlackCAP

In Ontario, HIV diagnoses continue to remain highest among individuals who identify as gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men (GBM), as well as persons of African, Caribbean, or Black (ACB) ethnicities. To address this, GetaKit, an internet-based service allowing for individuals to acquire a free HIV self-test (HIVST) partnered with the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (BlackCAP), an AIDS service organization in Toronto. As part of a larger mixed methods study, this work builds upon the quantitative data already published to explain the testing behaviors of ACB GBM. Using a focus group, this study supports what is already known about culturally sensitive health interventions to support community resiliency and liberation. However, the findings also demonstrate that there exist issues which threaten to undermine the fecundity of HIVST as a resiliency building tool, including concerns around trust, privacy, and misaligned, at times apotropaic, beliefs around the test itself.