Moving Beyond Viral Suppression: Strengthening the Community HIV Workforce to Improve Empowerment and Reduce Stigma in the Memphis Transitional Grant Area.

Community health worker (CHW) integration into the health care team has been identified as an important strategy for engaging people living with HIV in care and treatment. The content and methodology for training influences the way CHWs work with clients. Our study describes the impact of a community-driven CHW and supervisor training program on client viral suppression, retention in care, and psychosocial outcomes. We conducted a single arm, pretest-posttest study of 45 clients of CHWs who participated in a training intervention from 2021 to 2022 in eight counties in the southern United States. We found significant improvements in viral suppression and empowerment, and reductions in stigma and unmet service needs. Providing training to CHWs and supervisors, using a participatory methodology and content designed to enhance integration in the care team can improve psychosocial outcomes for clients, including increased empowerment and reduced stigma.