Community-defined social factors affecting people with HIV
Collaboratively Describing Community-Informed Social Drivers of Health for Patients Living with HIV: From Patient Perspectives to the Electronic Health Record
This project works with American Indian and Alaska Native people living with HIV to identify community social needs in medical records so care can better meet their needs.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Washington NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Seattle, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11381643 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would be asked to help define social and community factors that affect health by talking with researchers and local health organizations. The first phase uses interviews with American Indian and Alaska Native people living with HIV and partner clinics to create culturally specific categories of Indigenous social determinants of health (ISDH). In the second phase researchers will use natural language processing (AI) to find those ISDH in clinical notes from electronic health records and link them to outcomes like staying in care and future HIV risk. The team combines community collaboration, qualitative methods, and computer analysis to make sure the categories match lived experience and are usable in clinics.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are American Indian and Alaska Native adults living with HIV who receive care at participating clinics and are willing to share their experiences in interviews or allow use of their de-identified health records.
Not a fit: People who are not American Indian or Alaska Native, who do not receive care at partner clinics, or who do not want their records or experiences used are unlikely to be included or to see direct benefits from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, clinics could better recognize social needs in records and tailor support to help people with HIV stay in care, especially Indigenous patients.
How similar studies have performed: Other projects have used NLP to detect social needs in clinical notes, but applying community-defined Indigenous social determinants to predict HIV outcomes is a new, less-tested approach.
Where this research is happening
Seattle, United States
- University of Washington — Seattle, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bear Don't Walk, Oliver John — University of Washington
- Study coordinator: Bear Don't Walk, Oliver John
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.