TY - JOUR
T1 - Telehealth and Access to HIV Care for Youth
T2 - A National Mixed-Methods Study of U.S. HIV Healthcare Provider Practices and Perspectives
AU - Barr, E. A.
AU - Momin, R. P.
AU - Qian, Q.
AU - Beach, Robin
AU - Lingwall, Mary Catherine
AU - Paul, M. E.
AU - Armitage, Hannah
AU - Wu, H.
AU - Giordano, Thomas P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
PY - 2026/1/1
Y1 - 2026/1/1
N2 - Background: Youth living with HIV (YWH) face persistent barriers to care engagement and viral suppression. Telehealth expanded post-COVID-19 emergence, offering new possibilities for access, but provider perspectives on its use with YWH are underexplored. Methods: A national mixed-methods survey captured experiences of 156 HIV care providers. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Most providers (88.5%) believed telehealth would continue to play a role in HIV care. Reported benefits included improved access (80.7%) and workflow efficiency (64.7%). However, providers were significantly less likely to discuss sensitive topics “often” via telehealth compared to in-person care, including mental health (81.4% vs. 92.9%, p = 0.0008) and sexual health (77.9% vs. 93.6%, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: While telehealth improves access for YWH, hybrid care models and targeted provider training are needed to address privacy, communication, and trust when discussing sensitive health concerns.
AB - Background: Youth living with HIV (YWH) face persistent barriers to care engagement and viral suppression. Telehealth expanded post-COVID-19 emergence, offering new possibilities for access, but provider perspectives on its use with YWH are underexplored. Methods: A national mixed-methods survey captured experiences of 156 HIV care providers. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Most providers (88.5%) believed telehealth would continue to play a role in HIV care. Reported benefits included improved access (80.7%) and workflow efficiency (64.7%). However, providers were significantly less likely to discuss sensitive topics “often” via telehealth compared to in-person care, including mental health (81.4% vs. 92.9%, p = 0.0008) and sexual health (77.9% vs. 93.6%, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: While telehealth improves access for YWH, hybrid care models and targeted provider training are needed to address privacy, communication, and trust when discussing sensitive health concerns.
KW - HIV
KW - adolescent health
KW - patient-provider trust
KW - telehealth
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105045244966
U2 - 10.1177/23259582261467830
DO - 10.1177/23259582261467830
M3 - Article
C2 - 42467069
AN - SCOPUS:105045244966
SN - 2325-9574
VL - 25
JO - Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
JF - Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
ER -