Online Program

285999
Strengthening women and families affected by HIV/AIDS: Best practices in funding and implementing multi-phase HIV interventions for at-risk women


Monday, November 4, 2013

Stephanie Cruse, MA, AIDS United, Washington, DC
Vignetta E. Charles, PhD, AIDS United, Washington, DC
Cynthia A. Gomez, PhD, Health Equity Institute, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Women of color are at increasing risk for HIV/AIDS, and their needs are insufficiently addressed by currently existing evidenced-based interventions utilized in the U.S. While community-based organizations (CBO's) are often best positioned to offer original methods of prevention, they often lack the capacity to adapt or create and evaluate effective prevention interventions.

GENERATIONS(GEN) is a capacity-building program for CBO's to create or adapt evidence-based interventions for at-risk populations of women. Six CBO's were funded from 2010–2012 to work closely with TA providers through formative, pilot and implementation phases to design original curricula and to address the real-world challenges of delivering culturally relevant programs for women and/or girls.

The combined GEN III Initiative delivered HIV prevention interventions to 614 women, primarily women of color at risk for HIV in multiple urban regions of the country as well as in a rural town in Puerto Rico. The combined sample demonstrated statistically significant intervention effects across all outcome measures reviewed. The multi-phase funding model along with TA and evaluation support were successful in generating tailored prevention interventions that met the needs of at-risk women and girls. The capacity-buildings skills and experiences gained were often transferred to other organizational programs and strengthened overall agency capacities.

The combination of multi-year, multi-phase cash grants, program evaluation, technical assistance and community building increased organizations' capacity to utilize existing prevention research and helped them understand how evaluation results can help them continually monitor and improve programs to ensure that they are meeting their target populations' needs.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the benefit of funding a multi-phase HIV prevention intervention; Discuss the capacity-building aspect of GENERATIONS on organizations and project personnel; Highlight the benefits of technical assistance and evaluation in adapting prevention interventions for specific populations of women; and Explain why a collaborative relationship between the funder and grantee is essential for a successful program.

Keyword(s): HIV Interventions, Women and HIV/AIDS

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a Program Manager overseeing HIV/AIDS prevention grants portfolios for the past three years. I have worked closely with technical assistance providers, evaluators, and fellow funders and have a deep knowledge of the HIV/AIDS field, especially as it pertains to women and HIV prevention (the topic of my abstract).
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.