The Influence of Neighborhood Characteristics on HIV Treatment Outcomes Among Adults: A Scoping Review Protocol
Abstract BackgroundThe HIV pandemic has caused enormous suffering and loss of life in the last forty years. Currently more than 34 million people have died as a result of HIV infection and over 37 million people are currently living with HIV. There have been tremendous global efforts to address the HIV pandemic and although significant progress has been made in treatment and prevention of HIV, many people living with HIV still do not have appropriate access to treatment and care. Current HIV interventions have focused more on individual factors than on community level factors. Community level factors influence individual behavior by enhancing or limiting access to- and utilization of HIV care. The objective of this scoping review is to assess and critically examine the association between neighborhood characteristics and outcomes of HIV treatment.Methods The following databases will be searched for studies published on and prior to May 31, 2021: PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EMBASE. We will include published full text studies with both experimental and observational study designs that discussed neighborhood characteristics and HIV treatment outcomes. We will exclude abstracts only publications and studies reporting opinion. Data generated from the search will be managed using Mendeley 1.19.8. The review will be conducted using Arskey and Levac’s methodological framework for scoping reviews. A narrative synthesis will be conducted on the included studies. Discussion Sustainability of HIV interventions that focus on individual behaviors rely on the community level factors that influence those individual behaviors. This review will enhance the understanding of the impact of neighborhood characteristics on HIV treatment outcomes among adults, and possibly shed a light on potential points of intervention that will aid in improving ART initiation, ART adherence, and HIV viral load suppression.Scoping Review Registration: OSF 10.17605/OSF.IO/MD89T