Resources to facilitate the replication or adaption of successful interventions for engaging Black MSM in HIV care.
Mental & Behavioral Health
Mental health services are psychological and psychiatric treatment and counseling services for individuals with a diagnosed mental illness. They are conducted in a group or individual setting, and provided by a mental health professional licensed or authorized within the State to render such services. Such professionals typically include psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers.
Best Practices
- SPNS Black MSM Initiative
- Center for Innovation and EngagementCollection of implementation guides on evidence-informed best practices in HIV care delivery.
- IHIPComponents of an intervention focused on BMSM with HIV who have not yet been successfully maintained in care.
- IHIPHHOME is a mobile care and systems intervention that helps connect vulnerable and homeless individuals in San Francisco to rapid HIV treatment.
- IHIPKC Life 360 is an employment-focused intervention that utilizes the intersection between employment services, HIV care and treatment, and housing to improve health outcomes of people with HIV.
- Center for Advancing Health Policy and Practice
Insights from a HRSA SPNS initiative on care coordinator/patient navigation interventions for vulnerable populations.
- Best Practices CompilationTo better integrate primary care with behavioral health services, providers were trained on trauma-informed care and contracts and standards of care were modified to require that medical providers conduct mental health screenings. As a result, receipt of mental health services and care retention rates improved.
- Best Practices Compilation2BU is a case management intervention designed to engage and reengage Black men who have sex with men with HIV into HIV care services. Peer case managers work closely with clients to increase HIV health literacy, troubleshoot accessibility issues to HIV care, and connect clients directly to behavioral health and support services. Clients who participated in 2BU had increased retention in care and viral suppression 12 months after enrollment.
- Best Practices CompilationBuprenorphine Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in HIV Primary Care is an integrated care approach designed to reduce opioid use and overdose while improving client engagement in HIV care. Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and Med Centro, Inc. implemented this integrated care approach as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017–2021. Clients who participated in this intervention received integrated care—treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) and HIV in a single setting—to improve retention in care, viral suppression, and engagement in OUD treatment.
- Best Practices CompilationCognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. Through individual or group sessions of CPT, clients learn to recognize and challenge unhelpful thoughts and beliefs related to trauma. Positive Impact Health Centers and Western North Carolina Community Health Services implemented CPT as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017 to 2021. While not statistically significant, CPT participants had increased engagement in care and retention in care from enrollment to 12 months.
- Evidence-Informed Interventions (E2i)CPT is an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) delivered by a behavioral health therapist trained in CPT.
- Best Practices CompilationCollaborative Care Management (CoCM) integrates mental health and primary care, with a care team of a primary care provider, behavioral health care manager, and psychiatric consultant. Together they provide comprehensive and coordinated care to people with HIV who have co-occurring depression or other psychiatric disorders. Four sites implemented CoCM as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017–2021. CoCM led to statistically significant increases in antiretroviral therapy (ART) prescription and viral suppression.
- Evidence-Informed Interventions (E2i)Collaborative Care Management (CoCM) is an evidence-based intervention that integrates behavioral health care with primary care in order to treat depression and other common psychiatric disorders.
- Best Practices CompilationThe AIDS Institute is committed to promoting, monitoring, and supporting the quality of clinical services for people with HIV in New York State. The Adolescent Quality Learning Network (AQLN) is a collaborative of 16 HIV Adolescent/Young Adult Specialized Care Center (SCC) programs. In collaboration with the AIDS Institute, SCC providers selected a quality improvement project aimed to raise viral suppression rates by improving access to mental health services.
- Best Practices CompilationLINK LA is a 12-session, 24-week peer navigation intervention for people with HIV who are scheduled to be released from incarceration. LINK LA peer navigators focus on behavioral changes that promote medication adherence and retention in care, while providing social support and facilitating communication with medical providers. LINK LA showed improvements in linkage to and retention in HIV care and viral suppression among people with HIV re-entering the community after incarceration.
- Best Practices CompilationThe RWHAP Part F SPNS program funded the Building a Medical Home for Multiply Diagnosed HIV-Positive Homeless Populations initiative from 2012–2017, to provide coordinated housing supports and HIV, behavioral and mental health care to people experiencing homelessness. Nine funded demonstration sites created partnerships with housing providers, integrated behavioral health and HIV care, and provided intensive patient navigator services. A multi-demonstration site evaluation found that, compared to baseline, participants were more likely to be virally suppressed after 12 months in the intervention.
- Center for Innovation and EngagementA tailored service delivery model, which includes increasing access to supportive services and providing HIV care services in community settings.
- Best Practices CompilationPOP-UP provides low-barrier comprehensive HIV primary care, substance use services, mental health services, and case management to people who are homeless and unstably housed with the goal of retaining clients in care and improving viral suppression. Among POP-UP participants, 44% who were unstably housed and not virally suppressed at the start of the study were virally suppressed 12 months after enrollment.
- Center for Innovation and EngagementIntervention leverages both individual and group sessions to address issues that influence youth engagement in HIV care, including stigma, disclosure, healthy relationships, substance use, and future life planning.
- Evidence-Informed Interventions (E2i)Project CONNECT is an evidence-informed intervention that engages Black men who have sex with men with HIV into medical care through early orientation to the clinic, relationship building, and enhanced personal contact.
- Best Practices CompilationProject Vogue provided community-based care coordination, HIV care, and behavioral health services to Black men who have sex with men (MSM) within New York City’s House & Ball community to address the unique cultural barriers that Black MSM experience when trying to access care. Project Vogue participants were linked to behavioral health services as well as to non-clinical supportive services, such as food and housing assistance.
- Best Practices CompilationSeeking Safety helps people who have experienced trauma and/or substance use disorder gain safe coping skills through a flexible 12-session intervention. The University of California, San Diego Mother Child Adolescent HIV Program and the Multicultural AIDS Coalition implemented Seeking Safety as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017–2021. Participants had higher rates of retention in care and viral suppression after 12 months of the intervention.
- Evidence-Informed Interventions (E2i)Seeking Safety is an evidence-based coping skills intervention that helps people attain safety from trauma and/or addiction.
- Center for Innovation and EngagementDescription of a communication-centered approach to service delivery that provides a compassionate and supportive environment to promote intrinsic behavior change among youth 16 to 29 with newly diagnosed HIV.
- Best Practices CompilationFive clinics implemented Tailored Motivational Interviewing (TMI) to better serve young people with HIV as part of a RWHAP Part F SPNS initiative. Motivational interviewing is a well-documented approach to engage youth in care and facilitate behavior change in a variety of contexts. Clients participating in TMI received integrated HIV medical care and TMI, and demonstrated improved engagement in care and health outcomes.
- Best Practices CompilationTailored Motivational Interviewing (TMI) delivers brief motivational interviewing counseling sessions customized to encourage people with HIV to engage in HIV care, take HIV medications as prescribed, and improve other health-related behaviors. Three sites implemented TMI as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017 to 2021. Clients who participated in TMI had significant improvement in engagement in care, prescription of antiretroviral therapy, retention in care, and viral suppression.
- Best Practices CompilationThe Rutgers New Jersey Medical School created a transgender health program and integrated it into their Infectious Disease Practice. The program conducted community outreach to engage transgender men and women in care, trained all staff on gender affirming care, hired transgender staff, provided gender affirming care and hormone treatments onsite, and offered mental health support to patients.
- Best Practices CompilationT.W.E.E.T. aims to engage transgender women in HIV care by combining weekly peer-based education and discussion groups, leadership training, community building, and the provision of supportive services. Three sites implemented T.W.E.E.T. as part of E2i, an initiative funded by the RWHAP Part F SPNS program from 2017–2021. Clients had improved outcomes across the HIV care continuum 12 months after enrollment in T.W.E.E.T.
Resources
- AETC National Coordinating Resource Center (NCRC)
HIV clinical training resources for HRSA's AIDS Education and Training Centers Program.
- NASTAD
Review of the basics of trauma and modules on trauma-informed approaches in the delivery of HIV care.
- University of Washington
Online clinician training platform with evidence-based core competency training on HIV prevention, screening, diagnosis, care, and key populations.
- SAMHSA
U.S. federal agency that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation.
- NASTADTips for RWHAP AIDS Drug Assistance Programs in supporting access to mental health medications and related services.
- National Council for Behavioral Health
Resources on integrating primary care with behavioral health services to better address mental health and substance use needs.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This is a Consumer-friendly website with tools to help with the basics of:
- TargetHIV
Roadmap on steps to take in setting up depression screening in a program.
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Medical case management acuity tool to assess severity of needs of clients living with HIV in various areas of functioning and categories of severity.
- Cleveland/Lorain/Elyria TGA
Tools developed by a Part A program to monitor programs and services.
- Cicatelli Associates (CAI)Screening tool designed for use by non-mental health professionals to assess mental health psychiatric disorders.
Webinars
- HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB)
Webinars and other special events by HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau.
- IHIPWebinar series featuring HIV care innovations developed under HRSA SPNS projects.
- Technical Assistance Provider Innovation Network (TAP-in)Recordings of the TAP-in webinars on topics critical to the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative.
- NASTAD
Review of strategies to support Ryan White core medical and support service access/delivery within and/or in combination with local syringe services programs (SSPs).
Conference Presentations
The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Ellen Eaton
2022 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment
HRSA
Alex Keuroghlian, Nicole Chavis, Beth Bourdeau, Demetrios Psihopaidas
2022 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment
Oregon Health Authority
Heather Hargraves, Sara Pyle, Jeffrey Williams
2022 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Taylor Gleffe, Daniel Howell
2022 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment
Sustainable Strategies for Strengthening Systems of Care for People with HIV and Opioid Use Disorder
JSI Research & Training Institute
Molly Higgins-Biddle, Juli Powers, Isabel Evans, Liz Sweet
2022 National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care & Treatment