Grant: Catalyst Grant: HIV/AIDS CBR Program - General Stream

Employment is a key social determinant of health. When people are engaged in decent work, it provides an adequate income, helps individuals develop their social connections, builds self-confidence and has a positive impact on health. Previous studies have found that unemployment rates in people living with HIV (PHAs) are higher than the general population for numerous reasons, including poorer health status, issues around access to benefits, and stigma faced in the workplace. Other studies have found that a sizable proportion of unemployed PHAs would want to reenter work if it left them better off, and we estimate over 20,000 Canadian PHAs may be in this category. Research by members of our team have identified that health and well-being typically improves for PHAs who engage in employment. This community based research (CBR) draws on the years of experience of Employment ACTion, an AIDS Service Organizations (ASO) in Toronto that has assisted hundreds of PHAs explore employment, Realize, a national non-profit that focuses on rehabilitation, and the expertise of frontline health providers and academics. We aim to catalyze a new partnership around employment as a social determinant of health for PHAs and carry out community based research to support a future employment intervention study. This will result in a new network of individuals and organizations that are interested in addressing employment outcomes for PHAs in Canada. Our project will support future community based research in this area, including the intervention study that is envisioned. Finally, this work will also provide the foundation for new curriculum for health providers on workplace rights for PHAs, supporting workplace accommodation and connecting PHAs with community resources if they are interested in reentering employment.