The community-based participatory intervention effect of "HIV-RAAP".

OBJECTIVES: To design and test HIV-RAAP (HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Among Heterosexually Active African American Men and Women: A Risk Reduction Prevention Intervention) a coeducational, culture- and gender-sensitive community-based participatory HIV risk reduction intervention. METHODS: A community-based participatory research process included intervention development and implementation of a 7-session coeducational curriculum conducted over 7 consecutive weeks. RESULTS: The results indicated a significant intervention effect on reducing sexual behavior risk (P=0.02), improving HIV risk knowledge (P=0.006), and increasing sexual partner conversations about HIV risk reduction (P= 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The HIV-RAAP intervention impacts key domains of heterosexual HIV transmission.

Enhancing community-based organizations' capacity for HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

The catalytic potential of community-based organizations to promote health, prevent disease, and address racial, ethnic, and socio-economic disparities in local communities is well recognized. However, many CBOs, particularly, small- to medium-size organizations, lack the capacity to plan, implement, and evaluate their successes. Moreover, little assistance has been provided to enhance their capacity and the effectiveness of technical assistance to enhance capacity is likewise limited. A unique private-academic partnership is described that simultaneously conducted program evaluation and addressed the capacity needs of 24 CBOs funded by the Pfizer Foundation Southern HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiative. Assessments of key program staff members at 12 and 18 months after the initial cross-site program assessment survey indicated a significant improvement in the CBOs' knowledge, skills, and abilities and a substantial reduction in their technical assistance needs for HIV/AIDS prevention. Full participation of CBOs in technical assistance and a concurrent empowerment evaluation framework were necessary to enhance prevention capacity.

Community-based organizations' capacity to plan, implement, and evaluate success.

Community-based organizations (CBOs) have the potential to promote and sustain health, prevent disease, and address health disparities, but many lack the capacity to do so. An assessment of the 20 CBOs receiving supplemental grant funding from the Pfizer Foundation Southern HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiative indicated a high level of knowledge for developing goals and objectives (mean score=3.08 on a scale of 0 (none) to 4 (extensive)) and high self-assessed abilities to conduct six of 20 specific intervention activities, including the development of community relationships and coalitions. Lower knowledge and skill levels were observed for intervention evaluation. While CBOs of this Initiative have established prerequisite abilities, they have self-acknowledged needs for technical assistance to maximize HIV/AIDS prevention capacity.

HIV/AIDS knowledge scale in relation to HIV risks among African-American women.

This study assessed psychometrics of an HIV/AIDS knowledge scale and the relation of scores to HIV risk behaviors among African-American women 17 to 44 years of age (N=405). Data were collected from five communities located in Atlanta, Georgia. The HIV/AIDS risk-behavior knowledge scale and the HIV risk-behavior factors were collected. Analysis indicated reliability coefficients of the HIV/AIDS knowledge scale were virtually identical for high- and low-risk groups. The high-risk group scored statistically significantly better (76% correct answers) than the low-risk group (67% correct answers). The KR-20 coefficients were identical for both risk groups (.73), suggesting that the AIDS knowledge scale has suitable reliability.