scholarly journals PositiveLinks and the COVID-19 Response: Importance of Low-Barrier Messaging for PLWH in Non-urban Virginia in a Crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breanna R. Campbell ◽  
Sabrina Swoger ◽  
Alexa Tabackman ◽  
Eleanor Hilgart ◽  
Benjamin Elliott ◽  
...  

AbstractPositiveLinks (PL) is an evidence-based mobile health intervention promoting engagement in care for people living with HIV. PL offers secure, in-app patient-provider messaging. We investigated messaging during the early COVID-19 pandemic, comparing messages exchanged between 01/13/2020 and 03/01/2020 (“Pre-COVID”) to messages exchanged between 03/02/2020 and 04/19/2020 (“early COVID”) using Poisson regression. We performed qualitative analysis on a subset of messages exchanged between 02/01/2020 and 03/31/2020. Between “Pre-COVID” and “early COVID” periods, weekly member and provider messaging rates increased significantly. Of the messages analyzed qualitatively, most (53.3%) addressed medical topics, and more than a fifth (21.3%) addressed social issues. COVID-related messages often focused on care coordination and risk information; half of COVID messages contained rapport-building. PL patients (“members”) and providers used in-app secure messaging to reach out to one another, identifying needs, organizing receipt of healthcare resources, and strengthening patient-care team relationships. These findings underscore the importance of low-barrier messaging during a crisis.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naveed Noor

This commentary foregrounds the need to examine how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated conditions may be affecting the lives of people living with HIV (PLWH) in a developing country context like Pakistan. It raises some important questions on medical care and updated information regarding PLWH in the time of COVID-19. Since PLWH are at an increased risk of developing comorbid conditions – something that makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19 – it is critical that timely research and evidence-based actions are undertaken to protect their health.


2022 ◽  
pp. 003329412110571
Author(s):  
Valentina Massaroni ◽  
Valentina Delle Donne ◽  
Nicoletta Ciccarelli ◽  
Francesca Lombardi ◽  
Silvia Lamonica ◽  
...  

The care engagement of people living with HIV (PLWH) measured with the patient health engagement (PHE) model and its association with HIV-related internalized stigma are not well established. Indeed, currently there are no data yet about the engagement of PLWH measured with the PHE model. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of HIV-related internalized stigma on care engagement and mental health and to fill the lack of data on PHE model applied to PLWH. We found that the internalized stigma score was significantly higher for PLWH ( n=82) in worse care engagement phase and both higher internalized stigma scores and worse engagement were associated to major depression symptoms. In conclusion, our findings describe for the first time the engagement in care of PLWH measured with PHE and highlight the importance of PLWH support to find strategies to cope stigma-related stress and optimize their care engagement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1640-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh C Bui ◽  
Bárbara Piñeiro ◽  
Damon J Vidrine ◽  
David W Wetter ◽  
Summer G Frank-Pearce ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Given that people living with HIV (PLWH) are disproportionately burdened by tobacco-related morbidity and mortality, it is critically important to understand the degree to which evidence-based cessation interventions are utilized by and are effective among PLWH. Aims and Methods This secondary data analysis aimed to examine differences in Quitline treatment enrollment and 6-month cessation outcomes among smokers seeking care at 1 HIV clinic and 12 non-HIV clinics that were part of a large healthcare system in the greater Houston, Texas metropolitan area, United States. Data were from a 34-month (April 2013–February 2016) one-group implementation trial that evaluated the Ask-Advise-Connect (AAC) approach to linking smokers with Quitline treatment. Primary outcomes included (1) treatment enrollment and (2) 6-month self-reported and biochemically confirmed abstinence. Results The smoking status of 218 915 unique patients was recorded in the electronic health record; 5285 (2.7%) of these patients were seen at the HIV clinic where the smoking prevalence was 45.9%; smoking prevalence at the non-HIV clinics was 17.9%. The proportion of identified smokers who enrolled in treatment was 10.8% at the HIV clinic and 11.8% at the non-HIV clinics. The self-reported abstinence rate was 18.7% among HIV clinic patients and 16.5% among non-HIV clinic patients. Biochemically confirmed abstinence was lower at 4.2% and 4.5%, respectively (all ps > .05). Conclusions AAC resulted in rates of Quitline treatment enrollment and abstinence rates that were comparable among patients seen at an HIV clinic and non-HIV clinics. Findings suggest that AAC should be considered for widespread implementation in HIV clinics. Implications PLWH were as likely as other patients to enroll in evidence-based tobacco cessation treatment when it was offered in the context of a primary care visit. Cessation outcomes were also comparable. Therefore, standard care for PLWH should include routine screening for smoking status and referrals to cessation treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 458-466
Author(s):  
Anna Grimsrud ◽  
Lynne Wilkinson ◽  
Ingrid Eshun-Wilson ◽  
Charles Holmes ◽  
Izukanji Sikazwe ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose of Review Despite the significant progress in the HIV response, gaps remain in ensuring engagement in care to support life-long medication adherence and viral suppression. This review sought to describe the different points in the HIV care cascade where people living with HIV were not engaging and highlight promising interventions. Recent Findings There are opportunities to improve engagement both between testing and treatment and to support re-engagement in care for those in a treatment interruption. The gap between testing and treatment includes people who know their HIV status and people who do not know their status. People in a treatment interruption include those who interrupt immediately following initiation, early on in their treatment (first 6 months) and late (after 6 months or more on ART). For each of these groups, specific interventions are required to support improved engagement. Summary There are diverse needs and specific populations of people living with HIV who are not engaged in care, and differentiated service delivery interventions are required to meet their needs and expectations. For the HIV response to realise the 2030 targets, engagement will need to be supported by quality care and patient choice combined with empowered patients who are treatment literate and have been supported to improve self-management.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. e0238687
Author(s):  
Aliou Baldé ◽  
Laurence Lièvre ◽  
Almoustapha Issiaka Maiga ◽  
Fodié Diallo ◽  
Issouf Alassane Maiga ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 11001
Author(s):  
Hadi Suprapto Arifin ◽  
Ditha Prasanti ◽  
Ikhsan Fuady

The phenomenon of HIV and AIDS has evolved into one of the most endless issues of health and social issues in the world, thereby becoming an agenda in the Suistanable Development Goals (SDG’s) Indonesia until this year. Like the iceberg phenomenon, the problem of HIV AIDS is a contemporary issue related to human risk behavior, not just about health problems, but also about the social problems of one’s relationship with the environment. This is what triggered the emergence of social disparity in the tourist area of Pangandaran. The latest data shows Pangandaran as one of the highest areas of HIV AIDS infections. In reality, there is still a gap or disparity between geographic regions, population groups, and socioeconomic levels. Therefore, authors want to know the efforts of local government in highlighting cases of social disparity for HIV AIDS infections in the tourist area Pangandaran. The result of the research shows that there is still a social disparity phenomenon for people living wih HIV AIDS (ODHA) in Pangandaran tourism area, mainly related to 1) Facilitation of health services; 2) HIV AIDS epidemic and; 3) Availability of trained human resources to serve ODHA in Pangandaran. In this case, the local government continues to work and coordinate with various parties, communities, including NGOs of the Matahati Foundation and AHF (AIDS Health Care Foundation) to minimize social disparities for people living with HIV AIDS (ODHA) in Pangandaran.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M Audet ◽  
Mariah Pettapiece-Phillips ◽  
Jose Salato

Abstract BackgroundImplementing evidence-based interventions to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is essential to controlling the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence-based community health worker interventions address barriers to medication retention by shifting the task from overburdened health facilities and emphasizing a more patient-centered approach in a comfortable location.MethodsWe employed traditional healers to implement an evidence-based community health worker program for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in rural Mozambique. Participants received support services for 2 months after their first positive test. Healers were trained to provide counseling, HIV education, support with disclosure, and advocacy at the health unit. We interviewed 23 PLHIV and conducted focus groups with 19 traditional healers to explore implementation fidelity and identify unplanned adaptations made during the program.ResultsHealers and PLHIV report counseling, HIV education sessions, and support with disclosure were largely delivered with fidelity. Due to the extreme poverty in the region, healers reported the need to add additional messages to support people who needed to take medication but had no food to mitigate the side effects. Patient advocacy at the health center proved difficult to implement. Negative attitudes towards PLHIV and traditional healers led to participants reporting extremely poor treatment by health care providers; the lack of respect made it difficult for healers to assist PLHIV with issues like long wait times, lost patient identification cards, or enduring medication side effects. Healers adopted directly observed therapy as an unplanned strategy to support non-adherent PLHIV.ConclusionGiven low levels of literacy and substantially different views on disease causation, healers delivered most core components of the intervention with fidelity. Healers attempted to implement the patient advocacy component but resistance from health care providers proved challenging. Future efforts will need to develop more effective strategies to overcome negative healer-clinician dynamic.Clinical Trials RegistryName of the registry: Traditional Healers as Adherence Partners for Persons Living with HIV in Rural Mozambique (PLHIV). Trial registration number: NCT03076359. Date of registration: 3/6/2017, retrospectively registered. URL of trial registry record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03076359?cond=Hiv&cntry=MZ&draw=2&rank=7


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