The purpose of this project is to achieve a better understanding of HIV disease progression and co-morbidity during adolescence in order to improve health care management of HIV infected adolescents. In order to achieve this purpose,the project will establish a clinical research site for recruitment and care of HIV infected and high risk uninfected youth. The site's specific objectives are to 1) recruit and enroll 20 HIV positive adolescent and 10 HIV negative but high risk adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 years into a base study of the full spectrum of HIV disease and its behavioral manifestations in adolescents, 2) provide age and culture-appropriate comprehensive health care and social support to the 30 young people enrolled in the above study, 3) participate in the derivation of clinical management guidelines which address the unique biological, biobehavioral, and psychosocial issues of HIV infected adolescents. The proposal will combine the strengths of the Family Clinic for HIV infected children, youth, and families, and the Adolescent Health Center to establish a Clinical Site for Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research. This site will be housed at the Family Clinic of the Children's Hospital of Alabama. The Adolescent Health Center will serve as an auxiliary clinical site when adolescents cannot be seen at Family Clinic due to appointment times or other logistical constraints. Both clinics are housed within the specialty mall of the Children's Hospital of Alabama, the only free- standing hospital for children and youth in the state. Care at the Clinical site will be provided by a variety of health and support service professionals orchestrated through active client and family-centered case management. The Clinical Site will provide access to a continuum of services tailored to fit the specific needs of each adolescent and his/her family.
