PROJECT
DESCRIPTION
The
Transitioning HIV+ Youth from Adolescent to Adult Services
Program is part of the national Consumer-Provider Partnership
Project being conducted by Cicatelli Associates Inc.
Transitioning HIV+ Youth will help agencies implement effective
and innovative strategies for building up HIV+ young adult
consumers to serve as mentors who can help other HIV+ youth
successfully transition to adult health care. These
consumer-provider partnerships will help manage this transition,
and contribute to the provision of comprehensive, coordinated
and culturally competent HIV care.
PROJECT
OVERVIEW
Transitioning from adolescent to adult primary care is a
challenging event, and may raise a myriad of challenges for HIV+
youth. Some of these challenges may include losing the
relationship with their adolescent provider, their reluctance to
disclose sexual activity and/or substance use to new providers,
and their need to assume more responsibility and decision-making
in their own health care. Other challenges to a smooth
transition may include provider resistance, communication
difficulties, cultural differences between adolescent and adult
provider settings, adolescent resistance to change, differences
in treatment practices, and lack of familiarity with adult
treatment services. Adult and adolescent providers need to work
together, along with the HIV+ youth consumer, to coordinate
his/her transition from one provider to another. One solution
to more successfully managing this transition is using young
adult consumers who have successfully made the transition from
adolescent to adult care, to serve as mentors to HIV+ youth in
transition. As a peer, and having gone through the experience,
these young adult consumers can provide a unique perspective,
along with support and guidance, to HIV+ youth consumers to help
them through this challenging period of change.
Cicatelli
Associates Inc. (CAI) will provide training and technical
assistance to adolescent and adult clinic staff, and young adult
consumers who have successfully transitioned to adult services,
to help agencies implement a patient–provider partnership for
care. CAI has a long history of working in HIV/AIDS, including
our experience in providing training on integrating peer
advocates in healthcare teams to Ryan White funded agencies and
other HIV healthcare providers. Using the lessons learned and
best practices from our prior experience CAI has designed a
four-day training program that targets clinic staff and
consumers. Young adult consumers will attend four days of
training, and adolescent and adult clinic staff will attend two
days of training. The training will develop these young adult
consumers as mentors and develop their ability to partner with
adult and adolescent health care agency staff to assist HIV
positive youth in transitioning into adult services.
ABOUT
CICATELLI ASSOCIATES INC.
Cicatelli Associates Inc. (CAI) is offering several training and
technical assistance series to clinical care staff and consumers
to help agencies implement the Consumer-Provider Partnership for
Care Program.
CAI is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) training and technical assistance
organization that has been working to improve the quality of HIV
care to underserved, vulnerable populations since the beginning
of the epidemic. Using our successful model of training and
technical assistance, and our experience in providing training
on integrating peer advocates in healthcare teams to Ryan White
funded agencies and other HIV healthcare providers, we have
designed four-day training programs that target clinical care
staff and consumers.
Funding for
this program is provided under Training and Technical Assistance
Cooperative Agreements Targeting Part D Ryan White HIV/AIDS
Program Grantees (CATPD) Competing Guidance 08-085.
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