Developing a community based intervention to increase the health and well-being of formerly homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS S/A

Little research has been done to investigate how community characteristics can affect the health of formerly homeless individuals, especially those living with HIV/AIDS. Further work needs to address designing interventions aimed at improving health by increasing community integration. We designed an intervention based on prior research that found a strong connection between structural factors, community integration, quality of life, and physical and mental health. The intervention will consist of rapid housing placement and activities designed to increase community integration, improve positive social support networks, decrease HIV risk behaviors, and support treatment adherence. The study will include 100 participants from Brooklyn and the Bronx. Half of the participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention group where they will complete 6 weekly intervention activities and take part in 6 quantitative interviews over a 2 year period. The control group will receive rapid housing placement but will not take part in the intervention group activities. We expect that the intervention group will have a better understanding of how community factors affect their life, become more aware of community resources, increase social support networks, reduce risk behaviors, and improve both physical and mental health. We believe that the results of this study will show how community factors, community integration, social support, and residential stability can affect the health of formerly homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS. Additionally, we believe this study will also show the importance of augmenting medical treatment of HIV/AIDS with housing and other community services.