title: The impact of representative payee services on medication adherence among unstably housed people living with HIV/AIDS.
abstract: Rates of viral suppression among people living with HIV/AIDS remain low, especially within marginalized populations such as people who are unstably housed. Representative payee is a service in which the US Social Security Administration appoints an individual or an organization to provide financial management for vulnerable individuals who are unable to manage their finances including housing payments. Little or no published research examines the association between financial management services such as representative payee and HIV clinical adherence. We conducted a pilot study with 18 unstably housed participants living with HIV/AIDS to examine the impact of representative payee services on viral suppression. Of the 11 participants who were not virally suppressed at baseline, 9 (81.8%) of them had achieved viral suppression at six-month follow-up (p = .004). Our findings suggest that providing unstably housed people living with HIV/AIDS with representative payee services may help them to improve their housing stability and clinical adherence. Additional research is needed to fully explore correlations between representative payee services and viral suppression.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Behavioral and Community Health Services , Evaluation Institute for Public Health, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hawk
authors.affiliation: b Positive Health Clinic , Allegheny General Hospital , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: c The Open Door, Inc ., Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farmartino
authors.affiliation: b Positive Health Clinic , Allegheny General Hospital , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: d Department of Social Work , Youngstown State University , Youngstown , OH , USA.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D019131:United States Social Security Administration; D019562:Viral Load; D016903:Drug Monitoring
keywords: HIV; adherence; financial managment; representative payee; unstably housed