 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Armida Ayala, PhD, MHA and Isabel Sanchez, BS. Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, 600 S. Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90005, 213-351-8364, aayala@dhs.co.la.ca.us
BACKGROUND: The County of Los Angeles is currently testing and implementing strategies to shift its prevention of HIV perinatal transmission from a conventional reliance on training clinic-based providers to training community promotoras (female peer educators) who conduct home visits in and off-site delivery system. METHODS:Data were collected from training sessions with African American and Latino women (n=41) whose knowledge was measured using pre and post-tests. RESULTS: We report results with a t-test analysis of African American(27%) and Latino(73%)women showing a significant increase in HIV perinatal transmission knowledge, p<.0001, while receiving HIV education in off-sites. CONCLUSIONS: The promotora approach highlights the need to focus on training peers (promotoras) in off-site settings to motivate their peers to practice prevention as an effective strategy. These efforts are best directed to women with low knowledge of HIV perinatal transmission and who live far from clinics because they may be less likely to access prevention services.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Women and HIV/AIDS, Community Health Promoters
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.