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You Matter

Policies & Guidelines

The You Matter Project: Pathways to care for STBBIs.

A guideline and policy recommendations for STBBI testing and linkage to care in British Columbia Provincial Correctional Settings | Download a PDF of the guidelines and  recommendations here

 

Prior to this project, there were no publicly available STBBI opt-out or universal testing and linkage to care policies and guidelines for any provincial corrections institutions in Canada. Although STBBI screening is available on request in correctional centres across Canada, without accepted best practices for opt-out or universal STBBI testing and linkage to care, there is inconsistent implementation of pre- and post-test STBBI counselling in corrections, and STBBI tests during reception at corrections are not universally or even routinely offered in many facilities, resulting in poor linkage to care for STBBIs among PWAI.

The development of these foundational policies and guidelines for opt-out or universal STBBI testing and linkage to care in corrections at reception aims to create accountability frameworks, streamline care pathways, reduce the occurrence of unintended harms, and increase the likelihood that PWAI will have positive experiences when engaging in healthcare.

These were developed with input from health care workers, corrections staff, and PWAI, with the aim to catalyze system changes in how health care services are provided in correctional institutions – by ensuring staff are well-educated in violence and trauma-informed care[1], cultural safety[2], meaningful consent[3], and non-stigmatizing protocols around testing[4].

Adherence to these policies and guidelines for opt-out or universal STBBI testing and linkage to care at reception could: (a) enhance the participation and success of the implementation of opt-out or universal STBBI testing and linkage to care by Correctional Health Services; (b) improve PWAI linkage to care for STBBIs; (c) facilitate broader system-level changes in provincial corrections pertaining to health services engagement, such as reduced stigma and increased violence and trauma informed care; (d) facilitate PWAI engagement in health care services upon re-entry to community, including for addictions-related care, and (e) serve as a model of change that could be adapted for other Canadian regions or internationally.

To ensure that policies and guidelines incorporate and balance experiences and preferences of PWAI/PWUD and corrections staff, this project included consultations, interactive workshops, and communications with: PWAI and people with experience of incarceration, BC’s Correctional Health Services staff, and BC Corrections staff.

In the development of our guidelines, in addition to consulting key stakeholder groups, we have also consulted existing guideline and policies that we encourage you to review, including:

  • Barriers and facilitators to hepatitis C (HCV) screening and treatment-a description of prisoners’ perspective (Crowley, Van Hout, Lambert, Kelly, Murphy & Cullen, 2019) | Available online
  • Blueprint to inform hepatitis C elimination efforts in Canada (The Canadian Network on Hepatitis C Blueprint Writing Committee and Working Groups, 2019) | Available online
  • Guidance to Support Opt-Out Blood Borne Virus Testing in Scottish Prisons (NHS Scotland & Scottish Prison Service 2019) | Available online
  • Guidelines for Family Physicians Working with Formerly Incarcerated (Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education, 2017) | Available online
  • Hepatitis C virus screening and treatment in Irish prisons from nurse managers’ perspectives – a qualitative exploration (Crowley, Van Hout, Murphy, Kelly, Lambert & Cullen, 2018) | Available online
  • Jail: Time for testing -Institute a Jail-based HIV Testing Program (Altice, F. L., Sylla, L. N., Cannon, C. M., Avery, A. K., Spaulding, A., Hallman, M., & Webb, R. (2010) | Available online
  • PROS & CONS: A Guide to Creating Successful Community-Based HIV and HCV Programs for Prisoners (Second Edition) (Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), 2011) | Available online
  • Public Health Guidance on HIV, Hepatitis B and C Testing in the EU/EEA (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2018) | Available online

References

1. Trauma-Informed Social Policy: A Conceptual Framework for Policy Analysis and Advocacy (Bowen EA & Murshid NS)
     2016 | American Journal of Public Health | Available online

2. Toward cultural safety: nurse and patient perceptions of illicit substance use in a hospitalized setting (Pauly et al.)
     2015 | Advances in Nursing Science | Available online

3. HIV testing and treatment with correctional populations: people, not prisoners (Seal et al.)
     2010 | Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved | Available online

4. Behind closed doors, no one sees, no one knows’: hepatitis C, stigma and treatment-as-prevention in prison (Rance et al.)
     2018 | Crititcal Public Health | Available online

You Matter

NEWS & STORIES

The News & Stories page include blogs written by team members, news, project updates and past and upcoming events.

  • Blogs
  • Media / Press
  • Project Updates
  • Event Calendar

Blogs

  • Improving access to Hepatitis C care among people who experience criminalization

    By Sofia Bartlett PhD | 0 comment

    By Sofia Bartlett, Julia Santana Parrilla and Amrit Tiwana People who experience criminalization have the highest rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV)Read more

  • Test, Link, Call (TLC) Project: Improving Connection to Hepatitis C Virus Treatment After Release from Provincial Prisons in BC

    By Sofia Bartlett PhD | 0 comment

    By Sofia Bartlett, PhD, Senior Scientist for Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STIBBI) with Clinical Prevention Services at the BC Centre forRead more

Media / Press

  • HCV testing increasing in Canadian correctional centers

    By Sofia Bartlett PhD | 0 comment

    Hepatitis C testing has increased in recent years among people who are incarcerated in provincial correctional centers in British Columbia, Canada, accordingRead more

  • Article Summary: It is Time For Us All to Embrace Person-Centred Language for People in Prison and People Who Were Formerly in Prison

    By Sofia Bartlett PhD | Comments are Closed

    Excerpt and Highlights:  “The words we write or speak have immense power and are part of societal discourse which both influences andRead more

Project Updates

STBBI Policy and Guideline
Development for BC Corrections

The You Matter Pathways to STBBI Care project is funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada …

DETAILS

Test, Link,
Call Project

We recently received funding for the Test, Link, Call (TLC) Project which will be launched in Fall 2021 …

DETAILS

Upcoming Events

American Association for the Study of
Liver Diseases (Digital Conference)

Date: Nov 12-15, 2021

Link to conference
https://www.aasld.org/the-liver-meeting/program/digital-experience

  • Benefits of DAA treatment on mortality related to extrahepatic manifestations among people who inject drugs: a population-based study in British Columbia, Canada
  • Hepatitis C virus reinfection after successful treatment with direct acting antiviral therapy in Canada
  • Hepatitis C screening



In partnership with the BCCDC, BCMHSUS, UBC and other
stakeholders, we created a group that has been working on
transformative projects to improve health outcomes for
people in prison related to STBBIs.

PROJECTS

  • STBBI Policy and Guideline Development for BC Corrections
  • Test, Link, Call Project
  • ADVANCE COVID-19 Vaccines Study

EDUCATION RESOURCES

  • Education Resources
  • Sexually transmitted & blood borne infections (STBBIs)
    • Community & Clients
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  • Hepatitis C
    • Community & Clients
    • Health Providers
    • Test, Link, Call Project
  • COVID 19

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