SPNS/Fax: An Electronic Report from HRSA/HAB's SPNS Cooperative Agreements:
Volume 3, Issue 13 (June 26, 1998)

Information dissemination from 27 Innovative Models of HIV Care projects funded as Special Projects of National Significance by the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Introduction

Welcome to SPNS/Fax: An Electronic Report from HRSA/HAB's SPNS Cooperative Agreements. In each issue of SPNS/Fax, we will highlight findings from the HRSA Special Projects of National Significance Program Cooperative Agreements. The projects have been funded to develop innovative models of HIV/AIDS care. SPNS/Fax reports are distributed every two weeks by fax machine to all subscribers. All issues of SPNS/Fax are also available at this Web site. Due to slight differences in the media, issues distributed by fax machine may appear slightly different from those posted on this Web site, but the content is identical.

Experts Identify Important Elements in Comprehensive Healthcare Model for HIV/AIDS

The three Comprehensive Healthcare projects of the HRSA SPNS Cooperative Agreements — the University of Nevada School of Medicine's Early Nutrition Intervention in HIV and AIDS Project, the University of Vermont & State Agricultural College's Rural HIV Service Delivery Project, and Washington University School of Medicine's Helena Hatch Special Care Center for Women — have developed specialized HIV/AIDS medical care models within the context of a continuum of services. In order to obtain feedback about the success of those models, key informant interviews were conducted to identify the importance of a number of the program elements and judgments as to how well the project has succeeded with respect to each element.

Sixty-nine subject matter experts (74.9 percent women and 23.2 percent men) rated the projects in terms of a number of domains including: 1) Patient Recruitment and Retention; 2) Accessibility; 3) Quality of Care; 4) Education and Training; 5) Consumer Involvement; 6) Service Networks; and, 7) Information Dissemination. Within each of these domains, several specific program elements were rated. For example, the category of Accessibility included elements such as location of the medical clinic, availability of multidisciplinary care on site ("one-stop shopping"), coordination of services needed by clients, linkage of clients to an array of treatment and support services, and provision of transportation to the facility. For each element, respondents indicated its importance on a scale ranging from one ("not at all important") to ten ("critically important").

Those elements receiving the highest ratings of importance are listed in the table below. Key informant responses indicate that these elements were viewed as the most important components of a comprehensive service model assisting people with HIV/AIDS.

The type of people surveyed included administrators, medical service providers, psychosocial service providers, other direct service providers, evaluators, and collaborators or referral sources. Responses did not vary whether the person was a member of the project staff or a project collaborator In addition, the importance of these elements was not related to the type of job or role held by the individual. In other words, there appears to be consensus as to the most important elements of a comprehensive model for HIV/AIDS healthcare.

For further information regarding the work of the Comprehensive Healthcare Work Group of HRSA/HAB's SPNS Cooperative Agreement, contact The Measurement Group, 5811A Uplander Way, Culver City, CA 90230 310.216.1051, 310.670.7735 (fax) or access The Measurement Group web site at www.TheMeasurementGroup.com.

SPNS/Fax is produced by The Measurement Group–PROTOTYPES Evaluation and Dissemination Center (EDC). Editorial comments should be made to The Measurement Group at 5811A Uplander Way, Culver City, California 90230, 310.216.1051, 310.670.7735 (fax).
 

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