Navigating Barriers to Vocational Rehabilitation for HIV-Positive Persons

This study documented the outcomes of 108 HIV-positive persons receiving vocational rehabilitation services. 

Over a 12-month follow-up, participants reported significantly decreased odds of any unstable housing and increased odds of being employed at least part-time. However, reductions in perceived barriers to employment and increases in income were more pronounced among those not receiving disability benefits at baseline. This was consistent with findings from baseline qualitative interviews with 22 participants where those not on disability were subject to bureaucratic hurdles to rapidly accessing benefits and anticipated stigma of being on disability that propelled them to rejoin the workforce. 

Vocational rehabilitation could address key structural barriers to optimizing HIV treatment as prevention, and novel approaches are needed to improve outcomes among individuals receiving disability benefits.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/TltQYY

By:   Gómez W¹, Flentje A¹, Schustack A², Ramirez-Forcier J², Andrews B², Dilworth SE³, Riley ED⁴, Curotto A³, Carrico AW^5,6.

¹School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco (https://nursing.ucsf.edu/), 2 Koret Way, N511M, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.

²Positive Resource Center, San Francisco, CA, USA.

³Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

⁴HIV/AIDS Division, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

⁵School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, 2 Koret Way, N511M, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA. adam.carrico@ucsf.edu.

⁶Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. adam.carrico@ucsf.edu.

AIDS Behav. 2015 Dec 22. [Epub ahead of print]

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