Srikandi: Co-designing an intervention to increase HIV testing uptake with women from Indonesia at-risk of HIV

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Start and anticipated finishing date: 2018 - 2025

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Funding details: Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship

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Project team and contact: Corie Gray (main contact, Curtin University), Dr Gemma Crawford (Curtin University), Dr Roanna Lobo (Curtin University) and Professor Bruce Maycock (Exeter University)   

 

The context: In the last decade, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) notifications in Australia have been increasing among people born overseas, predominately from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South East Asia (SEA). For women from SEA, over two thirds are diagnosed late, meaning they have lived with the virus for four or more years before diagnosis. In comparison, less than a third of Australian-born women have a late diagnosis. Late HIV diagnosis increases the risk of onwards HIV transmission, likelihood of subsequent morbidity and mortality and increases health care costs.

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Project overview and aim: This study used a participatory action research approach, supported by six volunteer community researchers (women born in Indonesia), who had input into the project design, undertook data collection, and guided data analysis. The project was informed by two systematic reviews and an analysis of existing Australian HIV resources. Phase One of the study involved five focus groups (n=21 participants) and 10 interviews with Indonesian women. In Phase Two, results were presented back to community via initial co-design workshops (n=3) with Indonesian women (n=21) and organisations (n=3), which determined the intervention – a model for implementing a community-led action group. In Phase Three, a conceptual model of a community-led action group was developed through two co-design workshops with Indonesian women (n=18), alongside community researcher input and a literature review and tested via a community workshop.

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Project objectives:​

• Assess current resources and identify services available that support HIV testing for migrants

• Describe factors that influence Indonesian women’s sexual health, including help-seeking

• Co-design an intervention to increase HIV testing uptake among women from Indonesia

• Evaluate the utility of a participatory action research approach and co-design methods in developing an HIV testing intervention for Indonesian women

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Project impacts: This project will work with Indonesian women to develop a multistrategic intervention to increase HIV testing. Working with organisations will support changes in organisational practice to ensure sustainability of the intervention. The results of the project will further add to the literature on what interventions work with migrant communities and why. It is likely to have relevance to other jurisdictions, and other community groups, as a process of working with community. Additionally, this work is in line with the Australian Government’s goal of virtual elimination of new HIV transmissions by 2022 with a focus on a population that has not been at the forefront of the response to HIV.

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Access project publications here.