Aging Well with HIV (AWHIV)

This is a new workshop, developed for older persons with HIV.  It replaces the Positive Self-Management Program (PSMP), and will be released in late Fall 2024. 

Workshops are highly participatory. Mutual support and success build participants’ confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active and fulfilling lives.  Each participant is guided to tailor the workshop content to their own needs.

Formats

• Small group workshop offered virtually
• 2 1/2 hours per session
• 1 session per week for 6 weeks

Participants

Older people who are living with HIV

• 8-12 participants per virtual workshop

Workshop Leaders

• 2 trained Leaders, one or both of whom are non-health professionals with HIV  
• Must be trained by SMRC-certified Master Trainers

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Program replace existing programs and treatments?

The Aging Well with HIV workshop will not conflict with existing programs or treatment. It is designed to enhance regular treatment and HIV-specific education. The program gives participants the skills and confidence to coordinate all the things needed to manage their health, as well as to help them keep active in their lives.

How were the programs developed?

Our existing HIV self-management program, the Positive Self-Management Program (PSMP), was originally developed at Stanford at the height of the HIV epidemic.  While at Stanford University, Dr. Allen Gifford received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop and pilot a community-based self-management program to assist people with HIV. The study was completed in 1997.  Later Dr. Alison Webel, while a doctoral student at the University of California San Francisco, conducted a second evaluation. 

Today, the majority of people with HIV are over the age of 50, so SMRC, with help from several national organizations serving the HIV community, conducted both a focus group and survey of about 150 people living with HIV to identify how best to update the PSMP.  We learned that about 75% of what older people with HIV wanted was included in the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP), and that there was a need for about 25% new or revised HIV-specific content.  This current program, Aging Well with HIV, reflects what we learned to be the needs expressed by this group.

How can my facility offer the Program?

All agencies must have at a minimum:

• License to offer SMRC Programs
• At least two Leaders trained to offer AWHIV
• A copy of the book, Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions, and the Aging Well with HIV supplemental booklet for each participant

Workshop Topics

Physicians whose work centers on HIV, pharmacists, registered dietitians, occupational and physical  therapists, and other health professionals have reviewed all workshop materials. 

Topics include:

• How to deal with multiple medications, including those for HIV (including PrEP)
• Techniques to deal with isolation and loneliness, as well as frustration and fear
• Advocating for yourself with others, including health care professionals, as well as advocating for others
• How to deal with symptoms such as fatigue and pain
• Appropriate exercise for maintaining and improving strength, flexibility, and endurance
• Nutrition
• Evaluating symptoms
• Advanced directives
• Decision-making
• Sex, intimacy
• Action-planning, problem-solving, decision-making

Participant Materials

• Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions book
• Aging Well with HIV supplemental booklet
• Relaxation for Mind and Body relaxation CD or MP3 (optional)

For articles on the Aging Well with HIV program’s predecessor, the Positive Self-Management Program (PSMP), see the bibliography

Contact us for more information smrc@selfmanagementresource.com