Brown Bag Lunch and Learn - The impact of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) on individuals living with HIV and the importance of providing a screening protocol for IPV within clinical care settings.

Identifying current or past victims of IPV attending regular health care clinics offers the potential for improving both the mental as well as the physical health of individuals living with HIV. IPV causes an excess burden of disease on HIV+ patients and is associated with negative health consequences impacting mental, reproductive, and physical health. As such, a universal screening program for IPV was implemented at the Southern Alberta Clinic (SAC) in May 2009 that screens all patients and is repeated at regular intervals.

The purpose of this talk is to discuss the impact IPV has on the risks of acquiring HIV, accessing care, being retained in care, and health care outcomes. We will discuss the importance of routine screening for patients as part of regular clinic protocol, and to demonstrate the impact IPV has on patient outcomes. Using our clinic as an example, we will discuss why the screen was implemented, how data is collected and analysed, results obtained, and actions taken as a result of the screening process. We will discuss feedback received from clients. And finally we will discuss the next steps and future directions we are taking as we expand the screening protocol to other HIV care centers.

Participants to the talk will be able understand the importance of incorporating IVP screening within any clinic setting and how it can be implemented. Expanding IVP screening is beneficial not only to the clients themselves but also assists health care professionals in the management of health care by improving outcomes. A goal of the talk is to better understand the need for greater communication between different health care providers to provide better integration of overlapping health, mental, and social problems experienced by clients and patients.