Impact of Support Services Provided by a Community-Based AIDS Service Organization on Persons Living With HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This study examined demographic, health-related, social support, and service utilization characteristics of clients with high and low use of a community-based AIDS service organization in Canada. The study confirmed that the organizations' services were reaching the most vulnerable persons living with HIV/AIDS. It found that a significantly greater number of high users compared with low users were single, lived alone, and reported poorer health. The similarity in functional health status and depression between user groups, despite high users' poorer health and greater social vulnerability, supports client reports that services have reduced client isolation and improved health-related quality of life. Finally, high users had lower expenditures for government-provided health and social services overall, particularly HIV specialists and AIDS medication, but significantly more expenditures for emergency room services and complementary therapies. The results suggest community-based services can enhance health-related quality of life for persons living with HIV/AIDS by increasing providers' capacity to identify and address client depression and its consequences.

The Heart in Haart: Quality of Life of Patients Enrolled in the Public Sector Antiretroviral Treatment Programme in the Free State Province of South Africa

“…Gielen et al (2001) and similarly found access to social support to be important in enhancing the QOL of PLWA, while Crook et al (2005) and Makoae et al (2005) highlight the importance of communitybased support services. Yet, access to such support mechanisms may on the one hand be dependent on disclosure (D'Angelo et al, 2001;Klitzman et al, 2004).…”

Public or private? The role of the state and civil society in health and health inequalities across nations

“…First, nongovernmental organizations can provide needed services to individuals, either distinct from the state or as a conduit for governmentfunded programs (Crook et al, 2005;Wilson et al, 2012). Second, actors in the third sector also can affect a community's health for the better by ensuring government accountability, advocating for government programs that address the health needs of disadvantaged populations, and by working for inclusion of those groups' voice in public policy, particularly in developing countries (Turiano and Smith, 2008;Spicer et al, 2011).…”

Unmet Health Service Needs of Newly Diagnosed HIV-Positive Men Who have Sex with Men in China: Results from An Ethnography

“…A Canadian study reported a reduced sense of isolation, increased knowledge of their illness and how to live with it, and improved quality of life as a result of using services from community-based AIDS organizations [7]. Studies show that receipt of support or ancillary services such as case management, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, housing assistance and transportation are significantly associated with early entry into and retention in HIV care [30].…”

“…Mor and colleagues reported that those who are white, male, and non-intravenous drug users have higher rates of outpatient clinic/physician use, whereas those who are nonwhite, female, and intravenous drug users have higher rates of emergency room use [6]. Crook and colleagues found that those people who are single, lived along, and reported poorer health have a higher utilization of a community-based AIDS service organization [7]. Uphold and Mkanta conducted a literature review and found a list of factors related to use of health care services among PLWH, including predisposing factors (eg: race, gender and injection drug use), enabling factors (eg: insurance, social support systems and housing), clinical factors (eg: immune status symptoms and depression), and contextual factors (eg: characteristics of clinicians and urban/rural residence) [8].…”