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APHA 1996 Abstract: A Needs Assessment of Health and Social Service
Providers in the Fields of Youth and HIV
Presented at: American Public Health Association 124th Annual Meeting, November 1996
A Needs Assessment of Health and Social Service Providers in the Fields
of Youth and HIV
Ron Henderson, James Colgrove, Alnisa Allgood, Marilyn Little, and
Janet Shalwitz. Adolescents and young adults ages 12-24 are at high risk of HIV infection
and other morbidities, but age-appropriate HIV prevention and care services are lacking.
Health and social service providers who work with youth face internal and external
barriers to providing these services, including lack of expertise and training in
adolescent psychology and development, and lack of institutional and community support for
youth programs. To identify more precisely these barriers to care, a needs assessment of
health and social service providers was conducted in five San Francisco Bay Area counties.
Data were collected from mail surveys of 174 providers and in-person interviews with 79
providers. In addition, 64 youth were interviewed in focus groups and individually. Both
qualitative and quantitative data analysis were conducted. We found that providers and
youth see HIV as one of many interconnected threats to the health and well-being of young
people, including substance use, lack of family and societal support, and low self-esteem.
Providers identify lack of funding, lack of time, and lack of overall community support
for youth programs as major barriers to providing care to youth. From these findings, we
conclude that because providers need to address HIV in the context of its many health and
psychosocial concomitants, they need support from other sectors of the community at large
to offer effective HIV prevention and care. Lack of age-appropriate HIV services reflects
a dearth of services for youth in general.
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