The Center for Outreach Research and Evaluation (CORE) coordinated a national multi-site evaluation of HIV outreach strategies to engage and retain underserved individuals with HIV into care. The HIV/AIDS Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration funded this Targeted HIV and Outreach Initiative as part of the Special Projects of National Significance Program (SPNS) from 2001 – 2007. During Phase 1, in the first two years of the project, seventeen individual programs conducted local evaluations of their outreach programs and participated in the development of a multi-site evaluation plan. The projects re-competed for funding for Phase 2 of the evaluation. Ten programs were funded, which included modifications to program design and the multi-site evaluation. Evaluation results were published in a supplemental issue of AIDS Patient Care and STDs in June 2007.
Project Impact
Approximately 1,100 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) were enrolled in outreach program interventions aimed at improving engagement and retention in HIV care and followed up to 18 months to assess health outcomes. A summary of the key study findings is presented in AIDS Patient Care and STDs, published in 2007. One of the key findings was that PLWHA who received up to nine contacts from an outreach worker were more likely to be retained in HIV medical care.
Project Team Members
- Serena Rajabiun
- Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health at University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Affiliated Faculty and Principal Investigator