Webinar 4 — Leveraging Evidence-Informed Interventions to Engage and Retain Women of Color in Care

This HRSA webinar highlights two evidence-informed HIV care model interventions implemented in Chicago and North Carolina. During this interactive webinar presenters from two HRSA/HAB Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) demonstration sites shared their insights into successfully working with this deeply affected and hard-to-reach population in both urban and rural environments. The presenters walked through best practices, highlighted key takeaways and lessons learned, and answered questions about replication.

Featured Presenters and Interventions

Modified Healthy Relationships

Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center
Presenter: Allison Precht

Allison M. Precht is the Director of Preventive Health & Education at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center in Chicago, IL.  She has worked in the public health field for 17 years in the areas of research, prevention, and education.  She has coordinated hepatitis C testing in methadone clinics throughout the country, as well as in a California men’s state prison, and a hepatitis integration initiative with AIDS Service Organizations (ASO) throughout the state of Florida. Ms. Precht has coordinated HIV prevention grants, which target testing high-risk Hispanic MSM in the community and implemented a prevention program, which focused on delivering prevention messages to individuals engaged in HIV primary care at the CORE Center. She has been a project manager for two SPNS initiatives 1) to enhance the engagement and retention of HIV-positive Women of Color in primary medical care and 2) to develop the workforce capacity at CORE Center.

Ms. Precht discussed the Modified Healthy Relationships Intervention, a CDC Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project intervention that was adapted to address disclosure, retention, and barriers to care for women of color. She implemented this intervention parallel to CORE Center’s peer navigator program to increase self-efficacy and skills building with health behaviors.

Guide to Healing Project

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Presenter: Evelyn Byrd Quinlivan, MD

Dr. Quinlivan received her BSN from Virginia Commonwealth University, her MD from Duke University, and her training in Infectious Diseases from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). She has worked in HIV/AIDS since 1985 as a physician, investigator, and program leader. Dr. Quinlivan was Medical Director of the UNC-CH Infectious Diseases clinic and UNC HIV Care Network for 15 years and remains a research collaborator at UNC. She is currently the Regional Medical Director for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Clinics in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Quinlivan presented as the Principal Investigator on this project.

Dr. Quinliven discussed the Guide to Healing Project that implemented a Nurse Guide (navigator) linking patients to primary care, identifying and overcoming barriers to care, and providing resources such as cell phones and transportation. The project also included a psychologist-led support group, where motivational interviewing, health literacy educational modules, and strengths perspectives were used to help clients ultimately develop a more self-determined outlook on their prognosis.