A Critical Review of Health, Social, and Prevention Outcomes Associated With Employment for People Living With HIV.

A growing need has emerged among HIV service providers, policymakers, and researchers to understand ways in which employment, as a key social determinant of health, can be leveraged toward improved health outcomes among people living with HIV (PLHIV) and the prevention of HIV transmission. This critical review summarizes and assesses current research related to (a) the employment needs and challenges among populations disproportionately impacted by HIV, (b) the relationship between employment and important health outcomes associated with the HIV Care Continuum, and (c) implications for policy, service provision, and future research. As a first step to deepening an understanding of these issues, this analysis identifies gaps in knowledge to underscore the need and direction for future research so that well-targeted interventions can be designed and evaluated and more responsive policies can be developed to address the public health implications of the vocational development and employment needs of PLHIV.

Income generation and attitudes towards addiction treatment among people who use illicit drugs in a Canadian setting.

INTRODUCTION: Socioeconomically marginalized people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) often engage in alternative income generating activities to meet their basic needs. These activities commonly carry a number of health and social risks, which may prompt some PWUD to consider addiction treatment to reduce their drug use or drug-related expenses. We sought to determine whether engaging in certain forms of income generation was independently associated with self-reported need for addiction treatment among a cohort of PWUD in Vancouver, Canada. METHODS: Data from two prospective cohorts of PWUD in Vancouver were used in generalized estimating equations to identify factors associated with self-reported need for addiction treatment, with a focus on income generating activities. RESULTS: Between June 2013 and May 2014, 1285 respondents participated in the study of whom 483 (34.1%) were female and 396 (30.8%) indicated that they needed addiction treatment. In final multivariate analyses, key factors significantly and positively associated with self-reported need for addiction treatment included engaging in illegal income generating activities (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=1.96, 95% confidence interval [CI}: 1.11-3.46); sex work (AOR=1.61, 95% CI: 1.05-2.47), homelessness (AOR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.22-2.25); and recent engagement in counselling (AOR=1.85, 95% CI: 1.40-2.44). DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that key markers of socioeconomic marginalization are strongly linked with a stated need for addiction treatment. These findings underscore the need to provide appropriate and accessible addiction treatment access to marginalized PWUD and to consider alternative approaches to reduce socioeconomic disadvantage.

Socioeconomic marginalization and plasma HIV-1 RNA nondetectability among individuals who use illicit drugs in a Canadian setting.

OBJECTIVE: Given that people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) often engage in prohibited income generation to support their basic needs, we sought to examine the role of these activities in shaping antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and plasma HIV RNA-1 viral load suppression among HIV-infected PWUD. DESIGN: Longitudinal analyses among HIV-positive, ART-exposed PWUD in the AIDS Care Cohort to evaluate Exposure to Survival Services prospective cohort study (2005-2013). METHODS: Generalized linear mixed-effects and mediation analyses examined the relationship between prohibited income generation (e.g., sex work, drug dealing, theft, street-based income) and virologic suppression (plasma viral load ≤50 copies/ml plasma) adjusting for adherence and potential confounders. RESULTS: Among 687 HIV-infected PWUD, 391 (56.9%) individuals reported prohibited income generation activity during the study period. In multivariate analyses, prohibited income generation remained independently and negatively associated with virologic suppression (adjusted odds ratio: 0.68, 95% confidence interval: 0.52-0.88) following adjustment for hypothesized confounders, including high-intensity drug use, ART adherence and homelessness. Although partially mediated by ART adherence, the relationship between prohibited income generation and virologic suppression was maintained in mediation analyses (Sobel statistic = -1.95, P = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Involvement in prohibited income generation decreases the likelihood of virologic suppression directly and indirectly through its negative association with ART adherence. These findings suggest that linkages between socioeconomic marginalization, the criminalization of illicit drug use, and insufficient employment opportunities may produce barriers to access and retention in care. Programmatic and policy interventions that decrease socioeconomic vulnerability may therefore reduce HIV-related morbidity, mortality, and onward transmission.

Socioeconomic marginalisation in the structural production of vulnerability to violence among people who use illicit drugs.

OBJECTIVE: Many people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) face challenges to their financial stability. Resulting activities that PWUD undertake to generate income may increase their vulnerability to violence. We therefore examined the relationship between income generation and exposure to violence across a wide range of income generating activities among HIV-positive and HIV-negative PWUD living in Vancouver, Canada. METHODS: Data were derived from cohorts of HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative PWUD (n=1876) between December 2005 and November 2012. We estimated the relationship between different types of income generation and suffering physical or sexual violence using bivariate and multivariate generalised estimating equations, as well as the characteristics of violent interactions. RESULTS: Exposure to violence was reported among 977 (52%) study participants over the study period. In multivariate models controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, mental health status, and drug use patterns, violence was independently and positively associated with participation in street-based income generation activities (ie, recycling, squeegeeing and panhandling; adjusted OR (AOR)=1.39, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.57), sex work (AOR=1.23, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.50), drug dealing (AOR=1.63, 95% CI 1.44 to 1.84), and theft and other acquisitive criminal activity (AOR=1.51, 95% CI 1.27 to 1.80). Engagement in regular, self-employment or temporary employment was not associated with being exposed to violence. Strangers were the most common perpetrators of violence (46.7%) and beatings the most common type of exposure (70.8%). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that economic activities expose individuals to contexts associated with social and structural vulnerability to violence. The creation of safe economic opportunities which can minimise vulnerability to violence among PWUD is therefore urgently required.

Association between antiretroviral therapy adherence and employment status: systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between the employment status of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). METHODS: We searched the Medline, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases for studies reporting ART adherence and employment status published between January 1980 and September 2014. Information from a wide range of other sources, including the grey literature, was also analysed. Two independent reviewers extracted data on treatment adherence and study characteristics. Study data on the association between being employed and adhering to ART were pooled using a random-effects model. Between-study heterogeneity and sources of bias were evaluated. FINDINGS: The meta-analysis included 28 studies published between 1996 and 2014 that together involved 8743 HIV-infected individuals from 14 countries. The overall pooled odds ratio (OR) for the association between being employed and adhering to ART was 1.27 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.04-1.55). The association was significant for studies from low-income countries (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.58-2.18) and high-income countries (OR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.02-1.74) but not middle-income countries (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.62-1.42). In addition, studies published after 2011 and larger studies showed less association between employment and adherence than earlier and small studies, respectively. CONCLUSION: Employed HIV-infected individuals, particularly those in low- and high-income countries, were more likely to adhere to ART than unemployed individuals. Further research is needed on the mechanisms by which employment and ART adherence affect each other and on whether employment-creation interventions can positively influence ART adherence, HIV disease progression and quality of life.

Employment predicts decreased mortality among HIV-seropositive illicit drug users in a setting of universal HIV care.

OBJECTIVE: Given the link between employment and mortality in the general population, we sought to assess this relationship among HIV-positive people who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada. METHODS: Data were derived from a prospective cohort study of HIV seropositive people who use illicit drugs (n=666) during the period of May 1996-June 2010 linked to comprehensive clinical data in Vancouver, Canada, a setting where HIV care is delivered without charge. We estimated the relationship between employment and mortality using proportional hazards survival analysis, adjusting for relevant behavioural, clinical, social and socioeconomic factors. RESULTS: In a multivariate survival model, a time-updated measure of full time, temporary or self-employment compared with no employment was significantly associated with a lower risk of death (adjusted HR=0.44, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.91). Results were robust to adjustment for relevant confounders, including age, injection and non-injection drug use, plasma viral load and baseline CD4 T-cell count. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that employment may be an important dimension of mortality risk of HIV-seropositive illicit drug users. The potentially health-promoting impacts of labour market involvement warrant further exploration given the widespread barriers to employment and persistently elevated levels of preventable mortality among this highly marginalised population.