Tracking Client Outcomes across the HIV Care Continuum
Abstract
As the HIV prevention environment has evolved and shifted to a medical model focused on supporting people living with HIV, prevention programs require clinical partnerships and responsive monitoring and evaluation systems to track client outcomes. In this skills-building workshop, participants will discuss how to realign monitoring and evaluation efforts to track program activities that correspond to the HIV care continuum.
Proposal Summary
Community-based organization (CBO) staff have long played a role in the HIV prevention arena. The evolution of the HIV landscape in the last several years however has required CBOs to broaden their efforts to support the entire HIV care continuum, expanding referral networks, partnerships, and the services they provide. Collectively, organizations are also working to support national outcomes, documented in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Newer efforts focused on the use of surveillance data at the individual level to re-engage individuals in care further support national efforts. In response, CBOs have had to adjust their own evaluation strategies and processes, collecting data that reflect each stage of the HIV care continuum. It is not enough for staff to report the number of HIV tests conducted and the number of new HIV-positive test results. Rather, CBOs have a role to play in addressing and documenting the diverse needs of people living with HIV to ensure they remain in care, adherent to their treatment regimen, and ultimately achieve viral suppression. This interactive workshop will focus on innovative uses of data in response to the evolving environment, and the ways program staff can use data to track and improve client outcomes over time. This session will include both large and small group discussion and activities. Participants will work in small groups to discuss existing program activities that support each step of the care continuum and how programs currently collect and report data. Participants will further examine a case study focusing on using data to track outcomes, and identify next steps to apply in their own programs to support data collection, analysis, and use to track client outcomes across the continuum. Learning objectives By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 1. List three ways prevention program staff can support clients throughout the HIV care continuum 2. Identify four data elements CBOs can use to track health outcomes of people living with HIV 3. Describe the role of surveillance data and program data to track outcomes across the HIV care continuum 4. Discuss how to use data to inform prevention program activities
Relevance And Significance
This session supports innovative strategies and tools for prevention and intervention in rural communities. Funding for HIV prevention services is largely concentrated in urban areas, where the greatest numbers of people living with HIV reside. However, rates of HIV infection are high outside of these urban areas, particularly in the rural South. Monitoring and evaluation are critical therefore, not only to support clients across the HIV care continuum, but to measure efforts and outcomes that may inform programs, policy, and funding.
Session Format
Workshop
Keywords
Monitoring, Evaluation, HIV care continuum, Data, Surveillance, Outcomes
Location
Room 212
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Cozier, Naima and Powers, Juli, "Tracking Client Outcomes across the HIV Care Continuum" (2016). 9th Annual Rural HIV Research and Training Conference (2014-2019). 12.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ruralhiv/2016/2016/12
Tracking Client Outcomes across the HIV Care Continuum
Room 212
As the HIV prevention environment has evolved and shifted to a medical model focused on supporting people living with HIV, prevention programs require clinical partnerships and responsive monitoring and evaluation systems to track client outcomes. In this skills-building workshop, participants will discuss how to realign monitoring and evaluation efforts to track program activities that correspond to the HIV care continuum.