Using community-based participatory research to enhance and refine a lay health advisor-led intervention to reduce HIV risk among heterosexually active Latino men

Issues: Although Latino communities living in the US have been disproportionately affected by HIV, the development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention interventions designed to reduce infection among Latinos lags behind prevention efforts targeting other communities.

Description: A well-established CBPR partnership refined the HoMBReS intervention for heterosexually active Latino men based on lessons learned from its pilot test. The partnership engaged in the following steps including: expanding the partnership; developing and agreeing on intervention priorities based on locally collected formative data; reviewing theory; developing a logic model; reviewing and expanding intervention activities; exploring health communication; and pretesting and further refining the intervention.

The intervention maintained its foundation on social cognitive theory and empowerment education and utilized lay health advisors working within the social networks of soccer teams. Diverse learning modalities, including DVD segments, were added to augment lay health advisor training and served as a resource for the lay health advisors to use with their soccer teams. Monthly themes were added to focus and guide intervention implementation within soccer teams.

Lessons Learned: CBPR was a successful approach to combine research and community perspectives and knowledge into a meaningful intervention. CBPR incorporated the scientific foundations of behavioral change in an iterative process of co-learning among the partners, while ensuring that the refined intervention was rooted in the lived experiences of Latino men. The intervention is currently being tested rigorously.

Recommendations: CBPR has proven to be an effective means of intervention refinement and creating a more authentic intervention for a highly vulnerable population.