Network visualization to interpret which healthcare services are central to people living with HIV

Abstract

Aim: To employ network analysis to identify the central healthcare service needs of people living with HIV (PLWH) for integrated care.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Methods: A list of healthcare services was identified through literature reviews, expert workshops and validity evaluations by PLWH. A total of 243 PLWH participated at five hospitals and self-reported their need for healthcare services on a four-point Likert scale. Centrality of healthcare service needs was analysed using network analysis.

Results: The mean score for 20 healthcare service needs was 3.53 out of 4. The highest scoring need, "Precaution for interaction between antiretroviral therapy and other drugs," received a rating of 3.73 but had a centrality of only 0.31. The most central node in the network of healthcare service needs, "Information and coping with opportunistic infections," had a strength centrality of 1.63 and showed significant relationships with "non-HIV-related medical services (e.g., health check-ups)" and "Regular dental services." The correlation stability coefficient, which quantifies the stability of centrality, was 0.44 with an acceptable value.

Conclusions: The most central need was information on opportunistic infections that had connections with many nodes in network analysis. By interpreting the relationships between needs, healthcare providers can design interventions with an integrative perspective.

Implications for patient care: Network visualization provides dynamic relationships between needs that are unknown from the score scale by presenting them graphically and qualitatively.

Impact: Using network analysis to interpret need assessment offers an integrated nursing perspective. Coping with opportunistic infection is central to connecting the chain of healthcare. This study highlights the multifaceted understanding of patients' needs that nurses gain when they conduct network analysis.

Reporting method: We adhered to the STROBE checklist.

Patient or public contribution: No patient or public contribution.