Virtual health library users in Trinidad and Tobago—what do they need?

This paper aims to evaluate the usability of the Trinidad and Tobago Virtual Health Library (TTVHL) website based upon opinions of employees, students and ‘walk-ins’ in health care environments. Questionnaires were administered either in person or via e-mail to 122 persons who agreed to comment on the TTVHL website. All 122 responses were usable, resulting in a response rate of 100%. Data were generated using coded or classified responses and the findings were derived from data analysis. Respondents represented three categories of participants, viz.: health care personnel; library/information personnel; and persons operating outside of the biomedical or library/information fields. Their overall opinion of the website was favourable. Limitations of time, research personnel, and Internet access curtailed the administration of the survey at some locations where eligible respondents were present. The method employed can readily be applied to other VHL websites. Research on virtual health libraries within Latin America and the Caribbean is still in the early stages.

Adapting and disseminating a community-collaborative, evidence-based HIV/AIDS prevention programme: lessons from the history of CHAMP

In recent years, calls for the scaling-up, or more broad dissemination of evidence-based HIV prevention programmes, have increased. This paper responds to the call for increasing applicable knowledge about programme dissemination by reviewing the history of a major evidence-based human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and mental health promotion programme that has been adapted successfully and pilot-tested across four settings - including two major cities, as well as in the United States, Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa - to date. This programme, entitled CHAMP (the Collaborative HIV Prevention & Adolescent Mental Health Project), is distinctive primarily for its emphasis on community collaboration and power-sharing, and also its incorporation of individual, family and community-level interventions. The history of programme development, including theoretical foundations and results across sites, is discussed with a particular emphasis on the implications of CHAMP'S dissemination thus far.