Practical Lessons Learned from Adaptation Research with at-risk African-American Young Women: Challenges, Successes and Next Steps

Issues: As HIV continues to disproportionately affect young African-American women compared to their counterparts, it is imperative that HIV prevention interventions are adapted for this population. An important aspect of this adaptation process is to help determine the best ways to reach and retain this target population for interventions. There are important practical issues to overcome when reaching targeted inner-city youth. Description: Formative methodology was used over a year including focus groups, in-depth interviews and pilot tests with sexually-active African-American female adolescents who had dropped out of school to adapt a “best-evidence” gender-focused HIV behavioral prevention intervention. The goal was to address risks of substance use, sexual behavior and violence, and how best to recruit and retain young women for an HIV prevention intervention. A teen advisory board also added important perspective. Lessons Learned: Lessons learned included: the best days and times for study marketing and scheduling appointments; the importance of incentive types (e.g., gift cards to specific stores that are accessible via public transportation); and the transportation and childcare issues, as many were without reliable transportation, and had children and/or were currently pregnant. Additionally, retaining a few of the participants for the several-session intervention was a challenge. Recommendations: Adaptation activities resulted in a plethora of invaluable lessons that have been integrated into the full CDC-funded study for successful recruitment and retention with outreach methodology. Young African-American women are a vulnerable population at-risk for STIs and HIV, so it is important to reach them through appropriate and successful strategies.