MEDEA PROJECT/ HIV CIRCLE
In 2008, The Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women joined forces with UCSF’s [University of California, San Francisco’s] Women’s HIV Clinic to create theater that explores what it means to be living with the virus in the twenty-first century. For the past four years, The Medea Project/HIV Circle, has performed shows all around the United States, sharing the truth and the stories of what it means to be female and infected or affected.
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New research from UC San Francisco shows that an "expressive therapy" group intervention conducted by The Medea Project helps women living with HIV disclose their health status and improve their social support, self-efficacy and the safety and quality of their relationships.
"Medication alone is totally insufficient," said the study's first author, Edward L. Machtinger, MD, director of the Women's HIV Program at UCSF. "Over 90-percent of our patients are on effective antiretroviral therapy but far too many are dying from suicide, addiction, and violence. Depression, addiction and especially trauma are very common and often devastating for women living with HIV but are not being effectively addressed by most clinics. We believe that helping women develop the skills and confidence to tell their stories publicly will reduce their isolation and be the first step towards their becoming genuinely healthy. We partnered with the Medea Project to deliver an effective expressive therapy intervention that starts to address the primary causes of death of our patients." MORE |
UCSF Women's HIV Program (WHP)
WHP published a study titled, “An Expressive Therapy Group Disclosure Intervention for Women Living With HIV Improves Social Support, Self-efficacy, and the Safety and Quality of Relationships: A Qualitative Analysis” in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC).
- "We are very excited to have released this new publication describing an effective intervention to help women living with HIV safely and voluntarily disclose their HIV status. It was our hypothesis that HIV disclosure for many women could reduce isolation and lead to social support that would allow them to realize their inherent health and power. WHP partnered with Rhodessa Jones and The Medea Project to use her long-standing method of helping women develop the skills and confidence to tell their stories publicly. Together, we realized her method was particularly powerful for women living with HIV because their stories include being HIV positive and, for many of them, a lifelong history of trauma. The results of the study confirm that overcoming isolation has transformative health impacts on women living with HIV.
- For WHP, this study represents one milestone towards creating a more effective model of Trauma-informed primary care." MORE
ABSTRACT: An Expressive Therapy Group Disclosure Intervention for Women Living With HIV Improves Social Support, Self-efficacy, and the Safety and Quality of Relationships: A Qualitative Analysis
Women living with HIV (WLHIV) face high rates of morbidity and mortality. HIV disclosure interventions have been identified as a promising but under-evaluated approach for WLHIV to improve their health and well-being. The Medea Project is an expressive therapy group intervention that was first developed to help incarcerated women develop the confidence and skills to tell their stories publicly in theatrical performances. The intervention was subsequently adapted as a community-based disclosure intervention for WLHIV. Our study describes an analysis of the impact of the Medea Project on the lives of the WLHIV who participated. WLHIV publicly disclosed their HIV status during the performances. Five impact themes emerged from the data: sisterhood, catharsis, self-acceptance, safer and healthier relationships, and gaining a voice. Our study identifies a voluntary, effective, and broadly beneficial disclosure intervention. MORE
Women living with HIV (WLHIV) face high rates of morbidity and mortality. HIV disclosure interventions have been identified as a promising but under-evaluated approach for WLHIV to improve their health and well-being. The Medea Project is an expressive therapy group intervention that was first developed to help incarcerated women develop the confidence and skills to tell their stories publicly in theatrical performances. The intervention was subsequently adapted as a community-based disclosure intervention for WLHIV. Our study describes an analysis of the impact of the Medea Project on the lives of the WLHIV who participated. WLHIV publicly disclosed their HIV status during the performances. Five impact themes emerged from the data: sisterhood, catharsis, self-acceptance, safer and healthier relationships, and gaining a voice. Our study identifies a voluntary, effective, and broadly beneficial disclosure intervention. MORE
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ART IS MEDICINE
This June 9th and 23rd 2021, the Medea Project will begin a workshop series for HIV patients at UCSF.