HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Archive Update/Augmentation

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Trends in HIV infection and prevention are changing. Although a growing number of prevention efforts have demonstrated efficacy, women and people of color still represent a disproportionate percentage of HIV- positive persons. While prevention has until recently focused on HIV-negative persons, the need to also target HIV-positives is increasingly being recognized. HIV researchers and practitioners are also turning attention to the potential of "structural interventions" (e.g., policies and laws, organizational procedures, media campaigns, environmental interventions) to have synergistic effects with the prevailing "behavioral interventions" that target individuals or small groups. The proposed project will provide HIV prevention professionals with key resources that facilitate access to, replication of, and re-evaluation of efficacious behavioral as well as structural HIV prevention interventions. These resources will update and augment Sociometrics existing HIV/AIDS Prevention Program Archive (HAPPA), a widely-disseminated collection of replication kits for efficacious behavioral prevention programs targeting HIV-negative adults. Specifically, the project will: first, augment HAPPA with (new) efficacious behavioral intervention programs for HIV-negative and -positive adults, particularly programs aimed at women and people of color; and, second, develop three innovative resources to complement HAPPA--(1) a research-based Program Adaptation Toolkit, including a customized version for use with HAPPA kits and a stand-alone version for use with efficacious programs acquired elsewhere; (2) a Compendium of Effective Structural Interventions that includes the content and findings of empirically-validated structural interventions; and (3) an Online Intervention Selection Resource to help users identify empirically- validated behavioral and structural interventions suited to their local context and target population. In Phase I, efficacious interventions will be identified and selected by a Scientist Expert Panel and Agreements signed with their developers to acquire, package, and disseminate them. Prototypes of all products will be developed and will undergo usability testing with HIV prevention professionals. The proposed research will develop science-based resources for HIV prevention professionals that will help them to appropriately select, adapt, implement, and evaluate HIV prevention interventions that have already demonstrated evidence of effectiveness.