The study described in this report is part of an ongoing prospective cohort study initiated to monitor implementation of guidelines recommending PEP for HIV in the context of non-occupational exposure in Australia. Interviews with 88 people explored the social and emotional contexts in which exposure had occured, participants understandings of safe sex, their experience with HIV and HIV-positive people, their physical and psychological experience of the treatment, and the impact that the availability of PEP may have on their sexual practices in the future