 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Jennifer Rienks, MS, PhD(c)1, Geraldine Oliva, MD MPH1, Carla Dillard Smith, MA2, and Ifeoma Udoh, Phd candidate3. (1) Family Health Outcomes Project, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California St, Suite 365, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415-456-2882, Jenrienks@aol.com, (2) CAL-PEP, 405 14th Street, Suite 162, Oakland, CA 94612, (3) Research and Evaluation, CAL-PEP (California Prostitutes Education Project), 405 14th Street, Suite 162, Oakland, CA 94612
An urban community-based HIV prevention organization with a focus on prostitutes and a University partner received a Community Collaborative grant from the University-wide AIDS Research Project. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research project was to determine whether a bio-psycho-behavioral intervention (BPB) is more effective than HIV testing and counseling (T&C) alone in: a) reducing HIV and STD infection rates; and b) increasing adoption of sexual and drug injection risk reduction behaviors. The BPB intervention includes a physical exam with STD screening, education and treatment, HIV T&C, viewing HIV and STD “hot zone” maps, role model stories, personalized counseling, and an optional harm reduction workshop. High-risk African Americans, including prostitutes and drug users, are the target population for this project and services are provided using a mobile clinic.
From the perspective of the university partner, there are numerous benefits and challenges to conducting HIV prevention research with a community-based organization (CBO) in a community setting. The CBO provides access to the target population, expertise working with them, and actively participated in designing and modifying the intervention based on their experiences in the field. However, high staff turnover among outreach workers, test counselors, and the clinician, and difficulty in locating subjects for follow-up were key challenges that ultimately resulted in the inability to collect 1-year follow-up data. Measures of attitudes and behavioral intentions at the 1-week test results visit do showing promising results for the effectiveness of the BPB intervention and will be presented, along with strategies to improve community-based collaborative research.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: HIV Interventions, Community Collaboration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment