HIV/AIDS Prevention Practitioner Institute

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed project will complete development and field testing of the HIV Prevention Professional Institute (HPPI), a multimedia, multimodal course series designed to increase HIV prevention practitioners' capacity to use social science research-based skills to plan, evaluate, and sustain effective, culturally competent HIV prevention interventions. HPPI will comprise four basic and four advanced courses that collectively address how to achieve culturally competent programming, develop a program model, select and adapt empirically- validated prevention interventions, conduct process evaluations, assess outcome evaluation readiness, design and manage outcome evaluation studies, and enhance fundraising efforts. Courses will be made available for purchase singly, as basic and advanced course sets, and as the full set of eight courses, in CD-ROM and web- based formats. Summary information on course content and course prerequisites, made available through our company webpage that advertises HPPI, will help clients to select the course(s) that are the best match for their backgrounds and interests. Course overviews will also be offered as workshops at HIV prevention-related professional meetings, with attendees leaving the workshop with a CD-ROM containing the course(s) just covered. Periodically, booster materials will be provided to users to help address barriers to implementing research-based behaviors in prevention practice. In Phase I, we demonstrated the feasibility and utility of HPPI by developing a prototype course in CD-ROM and web-based formats and subjecting it to usability testing and a pilot assessment of its preliminary effects on users. In Phase II, we will complete development of the entire HPPI course series and accompanying booster materials; carry out usability testing of HPPI in all formats; revise the HPPI courses in accordance with the data obtained; and carry out a field test of the basic and advanced HPPI course sets, in all modalities. The field test will permit us to evaluate HPPI's effects on behaviors and key determinants of behavior and will facilitate final product revisions that will maximize HPPI's utility and effectiveness. This research will actively involve practitioners working with racial and ethnic communities that have been disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. By fostering the planning, evaluation, and sustainability of effective, culturally competent HIV prevention programs, HPPI will help to achieve the Healthy People 2010 goal to "prevent HIV infection and its related illness and death." The proposed research will develop training courses in multiple formats (i.e., web-based, CD-ROM, and in- person workshops) for HIV prevention professionals that will help them to plan, evaluate, and sustain effective HIV prevention programs for culturally diverse populations. By assisting practitioners in this way, the proposed research will ultimately contribute to lower HIV infection rates.