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What do you need? 2007: a health, social care, support and information needs assessment of people with diagnosed HIV in the UK

Duration: March 2007 - December 2008

The HIV epidemic in the UK is rapidly changing. Changes to the demographic make-up of the population of people with HIV require monitoring alongside the changes to public policy, law and service provision that affect their needs. Treatment changes and clinical advances are also likely to change overall need.

Using What do you need? (Weatherburn et al. 2002) as a template, we developed a self-completion survey in collaboration with a range of key stakeholders. The questionnaire was available for completion for 6 months from June to the end of December 2007.

Method 1: A booklet distributed by research collaborators
The survey questionnaire was designed as a self-sealing, postage-paid, (A5) booklet which was distributed to agencies providing services to people with diagnosed HIV, including some NHS HIV out-patients clinics. We aimed for 1,000 returns using this method.

Method 2: On-line survey
The survey was available for completion online in English and French. Its availability was promoted via HIV-related websites. We aimed for 1,000 completed questionnaires via the internet.

Survey findings will be presented in a range of different formats to meet the needs of a wide range of end users including commissioners, service providers, and researchers. Collaborating agencies recruiting 20 or more people will receive a data report summarising the key data for the people they recruited. In addition, local area data reports will summarise the key data for residents of each English Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and Primary Care Trusts within them.

The questionnaire is available to download in English.

Proposed outputs: A report of the full survey findings will be launched on World AIDS Day 2008. We also anticipate that findings will be written up for academic journals and for conferences.

Key contact: