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Perceived needs and unmet needs for formal services among people with HIV disease

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Abstract

This study presents estimates of the prevalence of perceived needs and unmet needs among people with HIV disease in the United States for six areas of community services: mental health, drug treatment, home care, housing, transportation, and entitlements. The prevalence of service needs and unmet needs within racial, gender, drug use history, and other subgroups was also examined. The study is based on a nonrandom cross-sectional sample of 907 people with HIV disease interviewed between November 1988 and May 1989 in nine major urban areas of the United States.

Respondents reported high levels of need and unmet need across a variety of service areas. One third or more of all respondents reported a need for mental health services (57%), housing (39%), entitlements (34%), and transportation (32%). Within each of the six service areas, 40% or more reported unmet need. Women, people of color, and injected drug users were more likely to report unmet service need in a number of areas. Given the limitations of the sampling and the focus oncurrent needs, these estimates may represent a lower bound on the magnitude of service need and unmet need within this population.

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Dr. Piette is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California-San Francisco. At the time this study was conducted, he served as the Project Coordinator for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Evaluation at Brown University. Dr. Fleishman is the Director of the RWJF Evaluation. Dr. Stein is Director of the HIV Clinic at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence Rhode Island. Dr. Mor is the Director of the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University. Dr. Mayer is Chief of Infectious Diseases, Memorial Hospital, Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

This study was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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Piette, J.D., Fleishman, J.A., Stein, M.D. et al. Perceived needs and unmet needs for formal services among people with HIV disease. J Community Health 18, 11–23 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01321517

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