Needs Informed model of Care for people living with HIV (NICHE)

NICHE is a five year programme of research aimed at improving mental and physical wellbeing in people living with HIV (PLWH).

This programme of research aims to improve mental health and wellbeing, improve social support and mitigate the effects of social and economic disadvantage and stigma in PLWH. This will be achieved ​​​through developing and evaluating an alternative model of care that incorporates routine assessment of psychosocial need to identify those eligible for a targeted intervention based on health coaching with social prescribing.

Our key research questions, which will be delivered through six work streams, are:

1. What are the current psychosocial needs and key drivers of poor mental health among PLWH, and can an intervention be co-developed with PLWH to improve wellbeing?
2. Can the intervention be optimised and piloted such that it is acceptable and deliverable in a definitive RCT, within the context of regular screening for psychosocial needs?
3. In such a definitive RCT does a health coaching and social prescribing intervention lead to an improvement in health and wellbeing?
4.  Is the intervention cost-effective?
5. Can such a model of care be adapted for other patient population with chronic disease attending secondary care services?