Improving HIV Care Continuum Outcomes Among Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Through Critical Time Legal Interventions

Overview

The purpose of this research is to better understand the impact of receiving legal aid on HIV care continuum outcomes among formerly incarcerated individuals. In addition, the investigators would like to assess the effectiveness of a comprehensive training for providers in increasing knowledge about medical legal partnerships and improving clinic level outcomes, including communication among providers. The training includes several topics including health disparities impacting formerly incarcerated individuals, health-harming legal needs and risks, screening for health-harming legal needs and risks, medical-legal partnership structure and operations, prerequisites for MLPs, embedding legal expertise within regularized case management, co-location of legal services, and data collection and analysis.

Formerly incarcerated individuals are impacted by health-harming legal needs and risks, including lack of access to HIV care, unsafe housing safety, unstable employment, and other issues that often disrupt HIV care. Providing access to legal services can address barriers to HIV care and improve HIV care continuum outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. The proposed study, led by the University of Central Florida (Hispanic Serving Institution), together with the University of Miami, and Hope and Help Inc., aims to pilot test a comprehensive critical-time intervention medical legal partnership (CTI-MLP) approach to optimize timely HIV linkage, retention and viral suppression among formerly incarcerated individuals. MLPs have been used by social justice-oriented medical, health, social, and legal service practices to identify and address health-harming legal needs and risks that create barriers to treatment, care, and recovery for several health conditions. MLPs offer an integrated structural intervention that could improve HIV care continuum and psychosocial outcomes among formerly incarcerated individuals. Our CTI-MLP intervention package consists of: 1) training for all MLP staff (clinical, social and behavioral services, and legal) on HIV continuum of care, health-harming legal needs and risks impacting formerly incarcerated individuals, and MLP structure and operations to ensure that an integrated and collaborative environment is established from the earliest stages of the program; 2) training for case managers and court advocate on the legal continuum of care; 3) embedding of legal expertise within regularized case management team meetings; 4) co-locating legal services in health care agencies through MLP inter-organizational partnership; and 5) tailoring and implementing organizational best-practices in communication and information-sharing protocols among providers within MLP, anchored in patient autonomy and choice. In year 1, the investigators will engage a local community advisory board, scientific advisory board, and legal expert panel to finalize protocols and the Medical Legal Partnership Training Manual. In year 2, the investigators will implement the training and pilot test a CTI-MLP initiative with formerly incarcerated individuals living with HIV (n=100). Over a 6-month period, the team will collect (1) patients' health and functioning, including overall physical health, mental health, social health, pain, fatigue, and overall perceived quality of life; (2) data on legal needs and risk factors; (3) patient HIV care clinical outcomes; and (4) clinic-level indicators, including provider-patient communication and readiness for continued implementation and sustainability. The study will be guided by Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research frameworks. Active engagement will ensure the effective translation and dissemination of our findings into practice. Completion this project will result in an innovative, evidence-based, community driven structural intervention to improve HIV care continuum outcomes among formerly incarcerated individuals.