141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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291361
Assessing the health outcomes of a multi-site linkage to HIV care initiative: Findings from the positive charge initiative


Monday, November 4, 2013

Catherine Maulsby, PhD, MPH, Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Jeeyon Janet Kim, MSPH, Heath Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Positive Charge Intervention Team, JHSPH, Baltimore, MD
David Holtgrave, PhD, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Background: Positive Charge (PC) is a multi-site HIV linkage to care initiative funded by AIDS United to increase access to and utilization of effective HIV healthcare by persons living with HIV.

Methods: A set of process and health outcomes indicators is used to monitor and evaluate PC. Data are collected at baseline, six, twelve and eighteen months. Health outcome data are collected via extraction from a variety of sources including medical records and surveillance databases as well as self-report.

Results: These results highlight trends in health outcomes for two PC sites, Louisiana and New York, at year two of program implementation.

In Louisiana, there is an increase in mean CD4 from 297 (SD 272) at baseline to 414 (SD 246) at 18 months (p=<0005; n=68) and a significant decrease in mean viral load from 389,623 copies/mL (SD 952,685) at baseline to 18,453 (SD 78,759) at 18 months (p=<.0001; n=54).

In New York City, both the trends for CD4 and Viral Load for NYC participants are significant (p=.000 & p=.003, respectively). There is an increase in mean CD4 from 507 (SD 300) at baseline to 556 (SD 337) at 18 months (n=48) and a decrease in mean VL from 22,104 copies/mL (SD 70,833) at baseline to 4,203 copies/mL (SD 14,504), also at 18 months (n=60).

Conclusions: The national evaluation show trends in the hypothesized direction for the health outcomes of the participants enrolled in the PC initiative. There is an urgent need for wide scale linkage and retention and care programs.

Learning Areas:

Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the evaluation methods and findings of a U.S.-based multi-site HIV linkage-to-care project

Keyword(s): HIV Interventions, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the director of evaluation for positive charge and have been trained in research methods.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3148.0: HIV interventions for marginalized and vulnerable populations