Understanding Care Linkage and Engagement Across 15 Adolescent Clinics: Provider Perspectives and Implications for Newly HIV-Infected Youth
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: The National HIV/AIDS Strategy emphasizes rapid care linkage and engagement for HIV-infected individuals, though many adolescents are never tested, delay entering care, and frequently drop out. We conducted 183 staff interviews at 15 adolescent medicine clinics (baseline, n = 64; Year 1, n = 60; Year 2, = 59). We used a constant comparative thematic method to examine how providers approached and discussed care linkage/engagement. Qualitative analyses revealed differences in providers' conceptualizations of linkage and engagement. Providers saw linkage as mechanistic and health system driven. It was defined by number of clinic visits and involved relatively little youth agency. In contrast, providers defined engagement by youths' responsibility and participation in their own care. Linkage and engagement are related but distinct aspects of care that require different resources and levels of staff involvement. Integrating an understanding of these differences into future interventions will allow clinic staff to help youth improve long-term health outcomes.
Source: AIDS Education and Prevention
Authors: Morgan M. Philbin, Amanda E. Tanner, Anna DuVal, Jonathan M. Ellen, Bill Kapogiannis, J. Dennis Fortenberry, The Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions
Institutions: Columbia University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Indiana University School of Medicine
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2611272740