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Abstract
Social workers are often on the front lines of the HIV/AIDS epidemic delivering prevention education and interventions, offering or linking individuals to HIV testing, and working to improve treatment access, retention, and adherence, especially among vulnerable populations. Individuals with substance use disorders face additional challenges to reducing sexual and drug risk behaviors, as well as barriers to testing, treatment, and antiretroviral therapy adherence. This article presents current data on HIV transmission and research evidence on prevention and intervention with substance abusers and highlights how individual social workers can take advantage of this knowledge in practice and through adoption and implementation within organizations.
Notes
This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network grants: U10 DA13714 (D. Donovan, PI) and U10 DA13035 (E. V. Nunes and J. Rotrosen, Co-PIs). Drs. Campbell and Tross dedicate this article to the memory of Donald A. Calsyn, PhD. His sudden and unexpected death during the final preparation of this article was a great loss to the field of HIV prevention and substance abuse treatment.
1. Two laboratory tests, plasma HIV RNA (viral load) and CD4 cell count, are standard indicators of HIV/AIDS disease progression. Viral load suppression is commonly defined as ≤ 400 HIV-1 RNA copies per mL of plasma; a CD4 lymphocyte cell count of < 200 cells/μL (microliter) indicates severe immunosuppression and is used as the threshold for an AIDS diagnosis (CitationLangford, Ananworanich, & Cooper, 2007; CitationTerzian et al., 2012; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS, 2011). ART has typically been recommended for CD4 cell counts of < 500 cells/μL (USDHHS, 2011).