The Alexis Project and Text Me, Girl! intervention, both led by CHIPTS member Dr. Cathy Reback (Principal Investigator), are featured in HRSA’s current biennial report, “Improving Health Outcomes Through Data Utilization: 2016 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Highlights.” To see the full report, you can download it here:
2016 HRSA Biennial Report
Below is a short excerpt from the report about The Alexis Project from page 37:
The Alexis Project was named after Alexis Rivera, a proud Latina transgender woman, community activist, and peer advocate who died from complications related to HIV on March 28, 2012.The Alexis Project is funded through the SPNS Program initiative “Enhancing Engagement and Retention in Quality HIV Care for Transgender Women of Color” and is designed specifically for transgender women living with HIV who either are not in HIV care, have not had an HIV medical care visit in more than six months, or are not adherent to HIV treatment or virally suppressed. The objectives of The Alexis Project are for participants to reach HIV milestones, including viral suppression, within 9 to 10 months of entering the program. The Alexis Project used a multifaceted approach to meet its recruitment goal of 140 transgender women. Local transgender women recruited other transgender women of color from their social networks into the project. Participants also were referred by community partner organizations or through street- and venue-based outreach. “Every kind of recruitment strategy you can think of we utilize, because it’s very hard to reach these women and hard to get them into care,” noted Dr. Reback...
Below is a short excerpt from the report about the Text Me, Girl! Project from page 39:
The Friends Community Center also conducts a text messaging intervention called Text Me, Girl! This intervention is designed to improve linkage, retention, and health outcomes among HIV-positive transgender women aged 18−34. Text Me, Girl! is one of the demonstration projects funded through the SPNS Program initiative “Use of Social Media to Improve Engagement, Retention, and Health Outcomes along the HIV Care Continuum.” Text Me, Girl! responds to the multiple challenges faced by young transgender women, including discrimination, stigmatization, and social and economic marginalization, which are obstacles to regular HIV care and the use of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication that results in viral suppression. Text Me, Girl! accommodates the transient lifestyle of many young transgender women by providing an easily accessible, private, and portable method for helping them to stay engaged in their HIV care…
To continue reading about these projects, download the biennial report linked at the top of the article. To see more biennial reports from HRSA, click here.