Pamela C. Ogata, MPH, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 600 S. Commonwealth Avenue., 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90005, 213-351-8398, pogata@dhs.co.la.ca.us and Michael A. Janson, BA, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, Los Angeles County Dept. of Health Services, 600 S. Commonwealth Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90005.

The Los Angeles County Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, in collaboration with the HIV prevention planning committee developed and conducted an annual Countywide Risk Assessment Survey (CRAS) as one source of data to evaluate the linkage between HIV prevention priorities, the County’s HIV Prevention Plan, and resource allocation. Over 200 staff representing 175 County-funded HIV prevention programs were trained using a multi-level curriculum to collect 2,107 surveys in a six-week period. Three innovative practices included in CRAS were 1) group trainings integrating survey administration, child and elder abuse reporting, HIPAA and Institutional Review Board regulations, sampling methodologies, and data utilization, 2) a procedure manual and 3) technical assistance and data verification site visits. Implementing the innovative practices increased participation and quality of the data collected. Findings include a 10% increase in the program participation rate between 2002 and 2003. In addition, there was a 7% increase in survey return rate. The new multi-level, technical assistance may have contributed to improved data quality wherein fewer returned surveys were incomplete. In 2003, there was a 19% increase in the number of surveys completed. These improvements demonstrate the need for integrated training that takes into account environmental, cultural, and linguistic factors for successful data collection, need assessments, research and evaluation.

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