141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

277222
Challenges and lessons learned when adapting evidence-based HIV prevention interventions: Being guided by the teens

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Wendee M. Wechsberg, MS, PhD , Substance Abuse Treatment Evaluations and Intervention Research Program, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC
Felicia Browne, MPH , Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Rachel Middlesteadt-Ellerson, BA , Substance Abuse Treatment Evaluations & Interventions Research, RTI International, Durham
Jerris L. Raiford, PhD , CCID/NCHHSTP/Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention/Prevention Research Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Jeffrey H. Herbst, PhD , Prevention Research Branch, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
Issues: Numerous adaptations of the Women's CoOp, an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention developed and tested with crack-using African American women in North Carolina, have proven successful in domestic and international settings. To address the needs of younger women, the Young Women's CoOp (YWC) study was designed to adapt and test the Women's CoOp for African American female adolescents who dropped out of school in Raleigh and Durham, NC. Description: Besides traditional formative methods that have already been reported, two Teen Advisory Boards (TABs) were convened to help adapt the intervention and provide advice on effective ways to implement the research study. The TABs provided input on all study materials (e.g., intervention content and activities, screeners and assessments), and offered innovative ways to enhance recruitment and retention of participants (e.g., monetary and non-monetary incentives, eye-catching marketing materials). The majority of TAB members agreed to be videotaped and describe their life circumstances to create new intervention content. Lessons Learned: The TABs were effective in offering suggestions to adapt the intervention and implement the study. However, initial recruitment and retention of TAB members was challenging, and required innovative strategies to keep them engaged and interested in the YWC study. Recommendations: If TABs are expected to play an integral role in a research study, they should be trained how to comfortably interact with their peers, present themselves as role models to successfully recruit and retain participants, and manage competing demands of personal commitments and demands of the research study.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the role of a Teen Advisory Board (TAB) for the adaption of an evidence-based behavioral intervention for adolescent African American women who have experienced dropping out of school. List the steps and challenges in adapting an evidence-based behavioral intervention within a different setting or population.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, African American

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the PI and have lead the adapation of this study.
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.