Demonstrating the Feasibility of an Economic Empowerment and Health Promotion Intervention among Low-Income Women Affected by HIV in New York City

Prema L. Filippone (), Yajaira Hernandez Trejo and Susan S. Witte
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Prema L. Filippone: Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA
Yajaira Hernandez Trejo: School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Susan S. Witte: School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Women of color in the U.S. face systematic exclusion from the labor market, work protections, and employer-based benefits. Women’s economic vulnerability increases their susceptibility to health-related issues, including HIV transmission and substance use, which are work-restricting disabilities, by constraining their capacity to effectively reduce risk. The Women’s Economic Empowerment pilot examined the feasibility of a structural intervention, implemented at a neighborhood agency, combining both health promotion and economic empowerment components as a pathway to accessing an urban job market for low-income women with work-restricting disabilities, including living with HIV. Ten women clients from a partner agency in New York completed four health promotion sessions, six financial literacy sessions, and a concurrent opportunity to match savings; some also followed with up to 24 vocational rehabilitation sessions. Interviews captured self-reported data on health promotion and financial outcomes at pre-/post-intervention and 3-month follow-up. Qualitative analysis of recorded group sessions and field notes demonstrate that women express improved HVI/STI knowledge and problem-solving strategies for risk reduction, a shared optimism for the future due to group participation, enhanced social support through relationship-building, a heightened sense of empowerment regarding financial decision making, and a desire to re-engage in the labor force. Findings suggest an empowering approach to re-engage women impacted by poverty, unemployment, and disabilities, including living with HIV, into the workforce may be implemented in a community setting.

Keywords: vocational rehabilitation; HIV; employment; prevention; health equity; economic empowerment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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