The Policy & Research Group and OPH Release Needs Report for People Living with HIV/AIDS

December 2008 – The Policy & Research group has completed the 2008 Louisiana Persons Living With HIV/AIDS Needs Assessment Report and submitted it to the Louisiana Office of Public Health. The report is now available on the Office of Public Health's website.

Through the HIV/AIDS Program, OPH contracted PRG to coordinate a comprehensive needs assessment of persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) across the state of Louisiana. The purpose of this assessment is to gain a greater understanding of the current level of HIV/AIDS service needs and to provide insight into PLWHA's knowledge of services throughout the state, as well as their experience in accessing these services. The 2008 survey instrument asks 74 questions covering ten domains: general information; health insurance, employment, and income; primary medical care; housing; childcare; transportation; mental health and substance use; other services; support services; and positive prevention. PRG created both paper and online versions of the survey; the paper survey was also available in Spanish.

PRG conducted the needs assessment with the cooperation of 29 agencies across the state. Partners include the ten Louisiana State University Medical Centers and 19 community-based organizations that provide HIV/AIDS services. During the data collection period, each consumer who visited a participating agency was offered a chance to take the 16-page Needs Assessment survey. PRG used convenience and quota sampling to achieve a representative sample of PLWHA in Louisiana. A total of 1,833 usable surveys from nine regions were returned to PRG for data analysis.