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Project Bridge:
Intensive Primary Care Follow-Up for Men and Women Being Released
from Prison
The Health and Disability Working Group is conducting an evaluation
of a primary care and case management program for HIV-positive ex-offenders
at Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island. This is a Special Project of
National Significance, funded by the Health Resources and Services
Administration.
This project
was created to test the following hypothesis: utilization of primary
care for treatment of HIV disease by HIV positive individuals released
from prison will be promoted by intensive case management and outreach
activities. The Project Bridge model consists of professional social
work staff and outreach workers to provide follow-up services for
eighteen months to HIV positive inmates upon their release from
prison; there is a follow-up interview six months after the program
discharge date. The services available to these individuals consist
of primary care, intensive case management, psychosocial supports,
and community outreach.
HDWG’s evaluation
activities for Project Bridge are both national and local.
The local evaluation
activities include:
- The provision
of data for program brochures (“The Man that Jack Built” has been
completed) and published academic papers
- The provision
of medical outcome data, such as CD4 counts and viral loads, to
Miriam Hospital physicians
- The completion
of a process evaluation for the project
- The publication
of journal article(s)
- A qualitative
case study report addressing Project Bridge enrollee experiences
and perceived outcomes
The national evaluation
activities include:
- All activities
associated with data submissions to the Evaluation and Technical
Assistance Center for Project Bridge clients in the following
areas: Domain, Demographics, Sex and Drug Behaviors, Health Status
and Health Functioning, Drug and Mental Health Services, Medical
Services, Non-Medical Services, DSM4 Mental Health Diagnosis,
and Agency Characteristics
- Participation
in several workgroup multi-site papers, including multi-site program
implementation and substance abuse
- Participation
in the development of two articles as part of the informal multi-site
collaboration of three SPNS projects
At present, HDWG
is preparing their final data submission to the Evaluation and Technical
Assistance Center for use both locally and nationally in a multi-site
database. This data will then be provided for a follow-up program
brochure (“The Man that Jack Built II”) and will be disseminated in
journal articles, presentations at national AIDS conferences, and
other forms of media. HDWG is also preparing a journal article for
publication in conjunction with the Project Bridge staff and preparing
conference presentations on our findings.
Key
staff for this project:
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