Building the Capacity of HIV Peer Educators as part of Interdisciplinary Teams to meet the Needs of the Underserved

Background: The Peer Education Training Initiative funded by the Health Resources & Service Administration provides training to people living with HIV/AIDS from communities of color to serve as peer educators. Three centers, located in California, Missouri, and New York, have developed peer training programs tailored to their target populations. The training sites all address key peer educator competencies including treatment adherence and communication with health care providers.

Methods: The training curricula for peers will be presented. A Peer educator will discuss the successes and challenges encountered with training and strategies for sustaining the peer programs as part of HIV care. Techniques for evaluating the emerging role of peers in HIV care and preliminary results of a multisite evaluation exploring the impact of the peer training on participants' knowledge and skills will be shared.

Results: To date 423 peers have been trained. At the time of the 6-month interview, the most prevalent services offered by peers included: provision of emotional support, helping clients understand the importance of HIV medications, and discussing behavior changes. Overall, knowledge scores improved significantly at 6 and 12-month follow-up.

Conclusions: This initiative builds upon evidence that peer educators have a positive influence on reducing HIV risk behaviors, facilitating entry into care and improving health outcomes for chronic conditions. Given the complexity of HIV treatment, it is essential that peers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to help their clients stay in care and adhere to treatment. This presentation introduces a training program that addresses these issues.