Grant: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: HIV/AIDS and STBBI

Women living with HIV (WLWH) experience high rates of poverty, food and house insecurity, and report low levels of self-reported health-related quality of life. WLWH also have accelerated cellular aging, shorter healthspans and lifespans than men living with HIV. The causes are multidimensional, but social factors, like stigma and isolation, that impede access to care are identified as potential causes. Community and individual programs that directly target WLWH can alter these health trajectories. Investigators on the team for this proposed project consulted WLWH from the Canadian HIV Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS) Community Advisory Board in the fall of 2018 to determine the focus of a program to improve the health and wellbeing of WLWH. Advisory Board members identified and prioritized the need for interventional research to mitigate the effects of accelerated aging and decrease the risk of disease, and identified dance as a particularly exciting program to study, if made free and easily accessible. This consultation informed the development of our proposed pilot study. In the current randomized feasibility and pilot trial, we propose to examine the acceptability and uptake of, and adherence to a 24-week aerobic dance program that is led by dance instructors who themselves are women living with HIV. We further propose to examine the effects of the dance program on a marker of immune cellular aging, as a primary health target, and traditional health markers, such as resting heart rate, blood pressure, waist circumference, and hemoglobin A1C. We will also examine changes in mental health and social inclusion that result from the dance program. The long-term goal for this study is to better understand our program and its effects, with the wider aim of fine-tuning a future larger, pan-BC randomized dance program with a larger cohort of women. By completing this project, we expect to enhance the physical, mental, and social health of WLWH.