The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66892

Wilhelmena I. Lee-Ougo, PhD, Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland at College Park, 2387 Valley Drive, Room 1242D, College Park, MD 20742, (301) 405-2550, wt33@umail.umd.edu, Lennwood Green, Howard University, 2112 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20059, Paula Toynton, MEd, Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, 78 New Street, Second Floor, New Brunswich, NJ 08901, Judith Leahy, MPH, Project Inform, 205 13th Street, Suite 2001, San Francisco, CA 94103, Christine Lothen-Kline, MPH, CHES, Bureau of Health Promotion, Howard County Health Department, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Columbia, MD 21046, Bradley O. Boekeloo, MS, PhD, Department of Public and Community Health, University of Maryland, 1242H HHP Bldg., Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742-2611, and John I. McNeil, MD, Howard University Hospital, 2112 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20059.

Multiple strategies are needed to close the gap on disparate care and outcomes for HIV-infected minority populations. Using peers to provide education and support regarding treatment and treatment-related barriers is one strategy. The National Peer Treatment Education Program developed and tested an educational model designed to increase the number of effective, minority peer treatment educators serving in communities highly impacted by HIV. In November 2001, twenty-four subject matter experts convened in Washington, DC to advise on peer treatment educator (PTE) roles and strategies to develop and implement a PTE training program. In response, a 2-week curriculum was developed around five competency areas: 1) information access, 2) support strategies, 3) goal setting, 4) HIV knowledge, and 5) skill transfer. Participants were recruited and three, consecutive training programs were conducted between July and September 2002 in different U.S. regions with a total of 37 participants. Assessment results demonstrated: 1) participants satisfied >70% of 60 learning objectives distributed across the competency areas, 2) final knowledge scores increased an average of 21 points from the pre-assessment to reach a mean of 83.78 out of a possible 100 points, 3) post-training self-efficacy ratings ranged from 4.50+.85 to 4.78+.42 on a 5-point scale compared to the 2.49 + 1.17 to 3.71 + 1.20 pre-training ratings and 4) satisfaction ratings ranged from 4.44 to 4.83 on a 5-point scale. Daily open-ended feedback, instructor interviews, site observations and focused discussions revealed strengths and provided improvement recommendations. Model development, participant recruitment, program implementation and evaluation details will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• List five competency areas to include in a peer treatment education program.
• Describe four strategies for evaluating the success of a peer treatment education program.
• Discuss the relevance of Adult Learning Theory to a peer treatment education program.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.