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Needs Assessment
of HIV+ Women with Parenting Responsibilities
The purpose of this project is to conduct an assessment of the unmet
needs of women with HIV who have parenting responsibilities, in
order to provide information and recommendations to the Massachusetts
Department of Public Health for future funding purposes. There is
a concerted effort in this study to explore current access and unmet
needs from the perspective of a diverse range of women with HIV,
including:
- Women who
live in urban and semi-urban areas,
- Women not
living in the city of Boston
- Women of
different ages,
- Women with
and without other co-morbidities such as substance abuse or mental
health disorders,
- Women whose
children do and do not have HIV, and
- Women of
different racial/ethnic backgrounds, including women who were
not born in the U.S.
From this study
we will be able to identify service delivery enhancements that are
not already provided in the current health care delivery system in
Massachusetts. The final product of this study will be a report to
the grantee, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, on our
findings and recommendations. It is anticipated that this report will
assist the Massachusetts Department Public Health in making funding
decisions and developing training programs.
We will work
with the directors and key project staff of agencies in Massachusetts
that provide social services or medical services to HIV positive
women. Most of these agencies are part of the Masscare program for
HIV positive children and families, a program administered by our
funder, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Because of
the nature of this project, we will use qualitative methods to conduct
this study. The methods will include in-depth interviews with women
who have HIV and also have parenting responsibilities. The in-depth
interviews will take approximately 45 minutes and will be designed
to identify where, how and how often women with HIV receive medical
care, mental health and addiction treatment services, and other
support services.
The
interviews will be conducted in English, Spanish, French and French
Creole as appropriate. Interviews will be conducted by Starr Wood,
Ph.D., Project Director and Jocelyn McCree, M.A., Réginalde
Gerlus, M.P.H., and Viviana Abuchar, M.S.W.
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