EMPOWHer: Embracing Midlife & Menopause Positively-Offerings by Women with HIV

Despite remarkable achievements in HIV prevention and treatment in the United States, significant gaps in specific health education remain for clinicians caring women with HIV (WWH), stemming their ability to reduce morbidity and mortality, resulting in adverse health outcomes. WWH are an aging population who experience complex physical, psychological, and social health challenges, and research and clinical guidelines to inform the care of WWH at midlife and beyond are limited. This paucity stems clinicians’ ability to provide comprehensive care to WWH at midlife. Midlife is an important phase in the aging trajectory when women enter menopause, a hormone-specific transition period of reproductive health. Midlife is a critical time for general preventative health screenings and the assessment of menopause- associated symptoms and conditions, some of which exist prematurely in WWH, including osteoporosis, heart disease, mood and sleep disturbance, and hot flashes. Collectively, these conditions deleteriously impact the health and quality of life of midlife WWH. In this proposal we will develop, implement, and evaluate a virtual education program called “EMPOWHer” Embracing Midlife and Menopause Positively: Offerings by Women with HIV, aimed to enhance clinician knowledge and confidence with providing midlife health and menopause care to WWH. The EMPOWHer program will be co-created by WWH from across the US in partnership with interdisciplinary clinicians and researchers to science, clinical, and social support needs. The virtual EMPOWHer program and related resources will be made publicly available to clinicians providing care to WWH via the EMPOWHer website link, which will be shared with national HIV community organizations, HIV clinics in the outpatient/inpatient area, and provider education forums. Further, insights gained from establishing, implementing, and evaluating the EMPOWHer program will be shared to extend its reach and impact, and inform the future development of similar programs for other populations.