Oral

Purpose: This session will discuss implementation and preliminary results from the latest cycle of the CDC National HIV Behavioral (NHBS) Surveillance project. NHBS is designed to gather HIV risk behavior data from three high risk populations: men who have sex with men, injection drug users, and heterosexuals at high risk of acquiring HIV. We will focus on heterosexuals at high risk of acquiring HIV. Our first dilemma was how to describe “heterosexuals at high risk of acquiring HIV” in a way that would allow us to find and sample this population in multiple sites using different sampling methods. Through initial formative work, the population of interest was defined as: heterosexuals living in areas with high rates of HIV and poverty. Thus, this became a project of high risk areas rather than high risk individuals. We used census tract population data and HIV surveillance data to identify census tracts with high rates of poverty and high rates of HIV. Two recruitment methods were selected: venue-based sampling (VBS) and respondent driven sampling (RDS). For each method, there were unique trials and tribulations. We will report on implementation and give preliminary results from RDS in New Orleans post Katrina and from VBS in Baltimore. In addition, we will present preliminary results from RDS in Houston, and discuss how well we achieved our goal of recruiting within our defined high risk areas.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe the process for identifying areas at high risk for heterosexual transmission of HIV. 2. Articulate the process of implementing respondent driven sampling in an area with disrupted infrastructure. 3. Articulate the process of implementing venue-based sampling within an identified high risk area. 4. Evaluate the success of respondent driven sampling in identifying individuals who live in a high risk area. 5. Discuss the prevalence of high risk behaviors identified in three cities.