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Caring for Persons with Early Childhood Trauma, PTSD, and HIV: a Curriculum for Clinicians

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Abstract

Access and adherence to medical care enable persons with HIV to live longer and healthier lives. Adherence to care improves quality of life, prevents progression to AIDS, and also has significant public health implications. Early childhood trauma-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one factor that has been identified as an obstacle to adherence to both risk reduction and HIV care. The authors developed a 4-h curriculum to provide clinicians with more confidence in their ability to elicit a trauma history, diagnose PTSD, and address trauma and its sequelae in persons with HIV to improve adherence to medical care, antiretroviral medications, and risk reduction. The curriculum was designed to address the educational needs of primary care physicians, infectious disease specialists, psychiatrists, other specialists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, residents, medical students, and other trainees who provide care for persons infected with and affected by HIV.

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Disclosures

The authors have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USA

    Mohammad Tavakkoli

  2. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Mary Ann Cohen & Sharon M. Batista

  3. Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    César A. Alfonso

  4. University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Maria L. A. Tiamson-Kassab

  5. Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Phil Meyer

Authors
  1. Mohammad Tavakkoli
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  2. Mary Ann Cohen
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  3. César A. Alfonso
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  4. Sharon M. Batista
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  5. Maria L. A. Tiamson-Kassab
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  6. Phil Meyer
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Correspondence to Mary Ann Cohen.

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Tavakkoli, M., Cohen, M.A., Alfonso, C.A. et al. Caring for Persons with Early Childhood Trauma, PTSD, and HIV: a Curriculum for Clinicians. Acad Psychiatry 38, 696–700 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0186-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-014-0186-8

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