The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #37061

John A. Encandela, PhD¹, Wynne S. Korr, PhD², Gary F. Koeske, PhD², and Kathleen Hulton³. (1) Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, 3520 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, 412-383-1619, john@stophiv.pitt.edu, (2) School of Social Work, University of Pittsburgh, 2230 Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, (3) Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, 3520 Fifth Avenue, Suite 400, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

This presentation focuses on mental-health case management as an ideal locus to address HIV prevention among seriously mentally ill clients (SMI) at risk of HIV infection. A triangulated methodology was used to gather information from mental-health case managers, their supervisors, funders, and other mental-health professionals in a 27-county region of western Pennsylvania to learn if and how HIV prevention might be a systematic part of case management. This presentation will focus on case-manager survey results and interviews with other mental-health professionals. Links also will be made to earlier case-manager focus-group findings. These data indicate organizational and professional factors that need to be addressed to disseminate and institutionalize a strategy for HIV prevention in various case-management settings (e.g., rural, suburban, and urban areas). We will also present a preliminary design for a dissemination experiment--the next step in this multi-year research. This experiment will compare approaches for integrating HIV prevention into routine tasks performed by case managers (e.g., incorporating HIV risk assessment into existing client-assessment procedures and facilitating referrals for intensive HIV-prevention services).

Learning Objectives: At the end of the session, participants will understand

• The severity of HIV transmission among the seriously mentally ill;
• A rationale for incorporating HIV prevention into mental-health case management;
• Triangulated methods for learning about the possibilities and ways of integrating HIV prevention with case-management practice;
• Results of mail survey and interviews of mental-health professionals pertaining to professional and organizational factors that need to be addressed to disseminate an HIV-prevention strategy;
• Plans for a dissemination experiment.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Case Management

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.