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HIV futures six
Report Available Soon
 HIV futures six full report available in December from www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs
A preliminary summary is available for download HERE
The full report will be available from HIV health services and community organisations, and will be included in mail outs.
You can email us to ensure you receive a copy of the report at hivfutures@latrobe.edu.au
HIV futures New Zealand 2
Mate aaraikore a muri ake nei (Tuarua)
Survey Now Complete
HIV Futures NZ2: Mate aaraikore a muri ake nei (Tuarua) data collection has finished
You can email us to ensure you receive a copy of the report: hivfutures@latrobe.edu.au
Download a copy here of:
The report and summaries are also available online from the NZAF site: www.nzaf.org.nz
HIV futures five
Report out now
HIV Futures Five: Life as we know it is out and available
Copies are available from your local HIV/AIDS organisation
You can download a copy of the report from the link above
You can email us to receive a printed copy of the report: hivfutures@latrobe.edu.au
The
Living with HIV Program
The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health
and Society (ARCSHS)
conducts a national program of social research focusing
on the lived experience of HIV. This is in part funded
by the Australian Government Department of Health and
Aging and specifically aims to analyse the experience of
Australian PLWHA in
relation to both their health and social environment and
to broaden understandings of the issues affecting
Australian PLWHA. Core projects in this research program
are the HIV Futures Surveys
and the HIV Futures Qualitative Studies. In addition,
there is a range of research projects addressing
specific issues at the levels of individual experience,
social and collective experiences, organisational and
structural issues and policy issues.
The research program critically examines the
experiences of PLWHA, at the levels of individual
experience, social and community structures, broad
socio-political structures and social meaning;
encourages input from affected communities in the focus,
design, interpretation and application of research
conducted through the program; and disseminates the
findings of research to the affected communities,
community organisations, professional bodies, academic
audiences, and government agencies in forms that reflect
their particular needs. This includes the production of
community reports, academic publications and conference
presentations, briefing papers, editorial material and
resources for use by affected communities.
Principles of Research
Our social
research with HIV positive populations rests on five key
components:
•
Partnerships at the local level: including academic,
community, professional and clinical
• Involvement
of PLWHA in research design, conduct and dissemination
• Skills
development and sharing as key outcomes of the research
process
• A reflexive
and responsive research focus
• A
collective and shared responsibility to enhance the well
being of PLWHA.
HIV Futures
The HIV
Futures Surveys are self completed, mail-back,
anonymous, national, non-clinical, omnibus, surveys
conducted every 2 years. The first survey was conducted
in 1997 with a sample of 925 people living with
HIV/AIDS. Subsequent surveys were conducted in Australia
in 1999 (921 respondents), 2001 (894 respondents), and
2003 (1059 respondents). HIV Futures New Zealand was
conducted in 2001 with a sample size of 226 (25% of the
PLWHA population of New Zealand). The survey had six
major content areas: health and treatments, sex and
relationships, accommodation, employment, community
involvement and finances.
The PLWHA research at ARCSHS, and HIV Futures in
particular, aims to reflect the context (socio-economic,
political, pharmaceutical, legislative, and geographic)
of living with HIV. Extensive community and professional
consultation in conjunction with the active
participation of affected communities, particularly
PLWHA, has ensured that the research priorities, conduct
and dissemination have been grounded in the day to day
experience of PLWHA and the organisations that serve
them.
The social research program has proved a valuable
tool for examining service provision modalities at all
levels of community and government. Research such as HIV
Futures has provided the opportunity for community
organisations, service providers, professionals and
policy makers to reflect on the complexity of the
experiences of PLWHA and to tailor their practices to
meet current and emerging needs.
This work complements behavioural surveillance,
epidemiology, analysis of treatment practices, care and
support, and specific social and clinical interventions.
The PLWHA social research findings have been critical in
contextualising behavioural, epidemiological and
clinical data.
The HIV
Futures studies have provided policy makers and service
providers with reliable and detailed information in the
following five domains:
• the
socio-economic situation of PLWHA (eg housing, finances,
employment)
• social and
community involvement (eg organisational access,
disclosure)
• health
status and maintenance (clinical history, treatments,
health service access)
• emotional
well-being (e.g. mental health, un-met needs, social
support)
•
understandings of the socio-cultural dimensions of HIV
(eg discrimination, attitudes to treatment, prevention
issues).
In addition, the combination of these domains has
offered particular insights into the role of social and
structural characteristics in the health and well being
of PLWHA.
The size and sampling profile of HIV Futures has
meant that comparisons can be made between different
sub-population of PLWHA. This has resulted, for example
in reports on HIV positive women, heterosexual men, and
those co-infected with hepatitis C. There have also been
reports for individual states. On the academic side
findings from the study have been presented at numerous
conferences and in journal articles covering such topics
as treatment breaks, aging and HIV, parenting,
anti-viral uptake, use of complementary therapies,
experiences of rural PLWHA, social determinates of
health and the experiences of HIV community.
Download pdf version of the hiv futures 6 survey |
