The social organization of HIV/AIDS care in treatment programmes for adults with serious mental illness

Abstract

As the HIV epidemic expands within the mental health system, mental health professionals (MHPs) are under increased pressure to provide more HIV-related care to clients in treatment for serious mental illness. Scientific understanding of MHPs’ readiness to provide these services, however, is limited. This paper examines the distribution of HIV care experience, HIV care-related knowledge, and related attitudes among 524 MHPs employed in three CMHCs and two state psychiatric hospitals in central Indiana. The results indicate that both clinical experience and subjective readiness to provide HIV care are concentrated among a few MHPs – primarily gay, lesbian, or bisexual (g/l/b) staff – within each facility. This informal system for organizing HIV care highlights the unique contributions g/l/b staff members make both in providing direct HIV care and in making sure that HIV-related issues are addressed in mental health settings. The implications of g/l/b staff members’ “gate making” function for improving the provision of HIV-related mental health services are discussed.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants to the first author from the National Institute Mental Health (R01 MH59717) and from the Indiana University Research and University Graduate School. The authors would like to thank Michael Ross for his helpful comments.