摘要：Individuals leaving prison face challenges to establishing healthy lives in the community, including opportunities to engage in behavior that puts them at risk for HIV transmission. HIV prevention case management (PCM) can facilitate linkages to services, which in turn can help remove barriers to healthy behavior. As part of a federally funded demonstration project, the community-based organization Centerforce provided 5 months of PCM to individuals leaving 3 state prisons in California. Program effects were measured by assessing changes in risk behavior, access to services, reincarnation, and program completion. Although response rates preclude definitive conclusions, HIV risk behavior did decrease. Regardless of race, age, or gender, those receiving comprehensive health services were significantly more likely to complete the program. PCM appears to facilitate healthy behavior for individuals leaving prison. HIV IS A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH threat to prisoners because of their disproportionate rate of HIV infection and AIDS. 1 – 3 Furthermore, when an individual leaves prison, community reentry introduces challenges to establishing a healthy life 4 and remaining uninfected with HIV. 5 In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Services Administration, in recognition of this need and opportunity, provided funding “to support demonstration projects within correctional facilities and communities that develop models of comprehensive surveillance, prevention, and health care activities for HIV, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), tuberculosis (TB), substance abuse and hepatitis” (CDC, unpublished grant application guidance). Open in a separate window Above. Get Connected staff, clockwise from top left: Sheila McNab, Kim Starr, Gonzalo Rucobo, Annette Lerma, Derrick Duran, Katie Kramer, James Brown, Yolanda Najera, Stacy Costa-Taylor, Mick Gardner. As a demonstration project site, the community-based organization Centerforce (see first side-bar) provided people leaving 3 California state prisons with peer education, reentry education, health fairs, and HIV prevention case management (PCM). In this report, we describe site activities and present evaluation results from the PCM component of the project, which is called Get Connected.
