Harm Reduction in HIV Primary Care for PLWH Who Use Drugs

Plain-language summary

People living with HIV (PLWH) who use drugs experience significant health disparities including lower rates of retention in HIV care and higher rates of unsuppressed viral load, resulting in secondary infections and increased mortality. The proposed study will used mixed methods to explore (a) the relationship between healthcare providers' attitudes towards working with PLWH who use drugs and providers' acceptance and practice of structural and relational harm reduction; (b) the degree to which relational harm reduction moderates the effect of intersectional stigma experienced in healthcare settings on patients' perceptions of their relationship with providers; (c) the degree to which structural HR moderates the relationship between the patient-provider relationship and clinical outcomes, and (d) whether patient-perceived HR approaches to care are directly associated with HIV clinical outcomes. The study will also use these findings to inform the development and pre-testing of an intervention to operationalize harm reduction in HIV clinical settings, using stakeholder-engaged and human-centered design approaches, presenting a novel path to reducing HIV health inequities for PLWH who use drugs.

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