True User Involvement by People Living With HIV is Possible: Description of a User-driven HIV Clinic in Norway

The Greater Involvement of People Living with or Affected by HIV principle highlights the various contributions HIV-infected people can make in HIV program development and implementation. We present a unique example of how service users' involvement led to a complete organizational redesign of an outpatient HIV clinic in Southern Norway. We applied a user-driven, case study method, which showed that establishing a user board laid the foundation for the redesign process, as the board provided a clear infrastructure of user involvement and developed a set of user-defined targets for services. The main targets-optimal health, holistic care and treatment, and empowerment-were operationalized as a set of action points, such as establishing HIV nurse coordinators. While there is no single method for user involvement, we offer useful ideas that can help others develop an involvement project that is effective and sustainable.