Violence screening and viral load suppression among HIV-positive women of color

AIDS Patient Care STDS. 2015 Jan;29 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S36-41. doi: 10.1089/apc.2014.0275.

Abstract

Recent research suggests intimate partner violence (IPV) is commonly experienced by many people living with HIV/AIDS, which can complicate their care. We introduce a novel approach to screening for history of violence among 102 women of color living with HIV and receiving care at an outpatient public health clinic. Using a composite measure composed of data from a variety of screening tools, we were able to determine that 70.6% of the women had a history of violence using the composite measure, and that 43% screened positive using multiple screening tools. Although overall viral load suppression rate was high at 81.4%, women with a history of violence were less likely to be virally suppressed when compared to those without such a history (76.4% versus 93.3%, p<0.05). Our findings suggest using a variety of screening questions at entry and at follow-up care appointments may be key to identifying and supporting women survivors who may not disclose violence when first asked. Future research should foster further development, analysis, and use of a variety of screening tools such as those used in this study.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anti-Retroviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / ethnology*
  • HIV Infections / psychology
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Interviews as Topic
  • Mass Screening / methods*
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors
  • Sexual Partners*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Spouse Abuse / ethnology*
  • Spouse Abuse / psychology
  • Spouse Abuse / statistics & numerical data
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Violence / ethnology
  • Violence / statistics & numerical data
  • Viral Load*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Anti-Retroviral Agents