255596 A systematic community-based participatory approach to refining an evidence-based community-level intervention: The HOLA intervention for Latino men who have sex with men

Monday, October 29, 2012

Scott Rhodes, PhD, MPH, CHES , Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Jason D. Daniel, PhD, MPH , Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Jorge Alonzo, JD , Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Stacy Duck, BS , 401B North Ivey Ave, Chatham Social Health Council, Siler City, NC
Manuel Garcia , Chatham Social Health Council, Siler City, NC
Mario Downs , Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Kenneth Hergenrather, PhD, MSEd, MRC , Department of Counseling and Human Development, The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Cynthia Miller , Division of Public Health Sciences/Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Alexandra Boeving Allen, PhD , Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC
Paul A. Gilbert, MSPH , Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Flavio Marsiglia, PhD , School of Social Work, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ
Background: The arsenal of interventions to reduce the disproportionate rates of HIV among Latinos in the US lags behind what is available for other populations. The purpose of this project was to develop an intervention that builds on existing community strengths to promote sexual health among immigrant Latino men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods: Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership engaged in a multi-step process to develop a culturally congruent intervention that builds on existing community strengths to promote sexual health among immigrant Latino MSM. The steps were: (1) increase Latino MSM participation in the existing partnership; (2) establish an Intervention Team; (3) review the existing sexual health literature; (4) explore needs and priorities of Latino MSM; (5) narrow priorities based on what is important and changeable; (6) blend health behavior theory with Latino MSM's lived experiences; (7) design an intervention conceptual model; (8) develop training modules and (9) resource materials; and (10) pretest and (11) revise the intervention.

Results: The developed intervention contains four modules to train Latino MSM to serve as lay health advisors (LHAs) known as “Navegantes”. These modules synthesize locally collected data with other local and national data; blend health behavior theory with the lived experiences of immigrant Latino MSM; and harness the informal social support Latino MSM provide one another.

Conclusions: This community-level intervention is designed to meet the expressed sexual health priorities of Latino MSM. It builds on the established social networks of Latino MSM and the culturally congruent roles of LHAs.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning

Learning Objectives:
By the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: (1) Outline 11 steps of a systematic CBPR process to develop a culturally congruent community-level intervention for immigrant Latino gay men and MSM; (2) Describe the values and principles of a cross-cultural CBPR partnership; and (3) Evaluate the unique contributions of community members, organizational representatives, and academic researchers in the development of the intervention.

Keywords: Latinos, Lay Health Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a PhD in Health Behavior/Health Education and an MPH in Health Administration. I am a Fellow in the American Academy of Health Behavior. As PI, I have >10 years of federally funded research in partnership with immigrant Latino and MSM communities in the US. I also have >110 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3345.0: HIV and AIDS in Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations in the US