One of the roles of the Office of HIV Planning is to conduct local research to help determine the needs of the community; we call these studies "needs assessments".  The 2012 Ryan White Consumer Survey and the 2011 Geographic Risk Analysis are two of our past needs assessments. You can find past needs assessments and other local data on our Documents page.

Currently, we are working on a study for the Philadelphia HIV Prevention Planning Group (HPG) on healthcare experiences and HIV testing preferences of seven at-risk populations. The purpose of this study is to assess the individual-level, provider-level and system-level barriers to care experienced by the most at-risk populations; in order to better understand how these barriers affect at-risk individuals’ use of healthcare and HIV testing and prevention services. The study findings will inform the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s planning and delivery of HIV prevention, testing, and treatment services.

We are holding one-time discussion groups (focus groups) with Philadelphians who identify as a member of one of the following groups:

• Young men who have sex with men (18-29)
• High risk heterosexuals (30-60)
• Black and Latino Men who have sex with men (30-60)
• High risk youth (18-29)
• Sexually active seniors (55+)
• Intravenous drug users (18+)

So far we have completed focus groups with young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and high risk heterosexuals in 2014. Blog posts will be posted when the YMSM and high risk heterosexual reports are up on the Documents page. The results from the YMSM discussions have been shared with the Ryan White Planning Council and the HPG, as well as various subcommittees. The analysis of the high risk heterosexual groups is underway and results will be shared with the community planning groups as soon as possible.

We are now recruiting black and Latino gay and bi men for focus groups in March and April 2015. If you or anyone you know is interested in participating, please contact Nicole at 215-574-6760 ext. 108. Participants receive a meal, tokens and a small thank you gift. Discussions take around one and a half hours (90 minutes). If an organization wants to have fliers to post or distribute, please contact Nicole. Any assistance in recruitment is greatly appreciated.

At this time we are only recruiting men who are proficient in English.  We are in discussion with community partners to develop a Spanish-language needs assessment to collect the barriers and experiences of Spanish-speaking Philadelphians at high-risk for HIV. Stay tuned for more information about that project.