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

Abstract #68252

Ann A. O'Connell, EdD¹, Krista Heybruck, MPH¹, and Deborah Cornman, PhD². (1) Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, 249 Glenbrook Road, U-2064, Storrs, CT 06269-2064, 860-486-0179, oconnell@uconn.edu, (2) Center for Health/HIV Intervention and Prevention, University of Connecticut, Psychology Department, Storrs, CT 06269

More than 4000 studies have been published on the effects of HIV prevention interventions (Des Jarlais & Semaan, 2002). Most of these reports have been written for members of the scientific community rather than for frontline prevention providers, making it challenging for CBOs to access information on effective interventions that could benefit their clients and communities. Despite a critical public health goal to introduce evidence-based programs into the field as quickly as possible, few studies have investigated agency readiness to select, implement, adapt, and evaluate evidence-based interventions, or examined the efficacy of implementation of replicated interventions in the field. Our research is beginning to address this very situation. In Connecticut, fourteen (24.6%) of the fifty-seven agencies receiving State funding to implement and evaluate their HIV prevention programs plan to use a replicated intervention selected from the CDC’s Compendium, the REP+, or other sources. Based on interviews and review of intervention protocols, our research is investigating critical factors associated with intervention choice (replicated or not), including agency familiarity with behavioral theories and evaluation, staffing, agency history in the community, funding experience, research and intervention experience, community and agency size, client characteristics, community norms, staff experience and motivation with behavioral theories or evaluation, etc. Our findings are informing a “best-practices” model of intervention adoption and adaptation, and we will discuss how this model may be used for establishing effective researcher-community partnerships as well as to assist agencies in the selection and translation of replicated HIV prevention interventions in the field.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of our presentation, participants will be able to:
• a. Identify community and agency factors associated with CBO selection of HIV prevention interventions, including CBO perceptions of barriers and facilitators in the translation of effective behavioral interventions into their community settings.
• b. Recognize how these factors may be used to help CBOs make optimal choices during the intervention planning, selection and translation process in order to improve programming on a local community level.

Keywords: HIV Interventions, Community-Based Public Health

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.