A Community-Based Participatory Approach to the Development and Implementation of an HIV Health Behavior Intervention: Lessons Learned in Navigating Research and Practice Systems from Project HAPPY

Abstract

African American young adults continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The Southern United States has been particularly affected by HIV/AIDS, accounting for 52% of the new HIV diagnoses. Efforts to reduce the burden of HIV among young African Americans are still needed. Project HAPPY (HIV/AIDS Prevention Project for Youth) was developed and implemented using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. There were several challenges that arose during implementation of Project HAPPY that included recruitment, partner engagement, and retention. The realities of implementing an HIV prevention project with urban adolescents is discussed in detail and strategies to overcome these challenges, using a CBPR approach are described. The lessons learned from CBPR implementation of Project HAPPY include: (1) Create a feedback loop to receive community input and guidance throughout the life of the project; (2) Periodic community inventory to determine who is providing similar services to avoid saturation; (3) Prepare for Alternative Partner Engagement; (4) Consult (formally and informally) with the Institutional Review Board prior to submitting proposed changes to avoid unnecessary delays in implementation; (5) Select meaningful incentives for your priority population; and (6) Maintain multiple points of contact with community partners to mitigate the effects of staff turnover.

Participatory Action Research for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Scoping Review

“…The characteristics of included studies are reported in Table 1. Of the 30 included studies, two studies involved younger adolescents (aged 10-14 years) [13,14], 14 involved older adolescents (aged 15-19 years) [5,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], and 13 studies involved both [13,[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]; however, one study did not define the age groups [40]. -Indicate what changes need to be made to the original intervention informing adaptation, implementation, and evaluation plans.…”

“…The studies were based in a range of different settings. Approximately half (n = 16) of the studies were conducted in high-income countries (HIC) [5,13,15,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][27][28][29][30]33,39], and the other half (n = 14) was conducted in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) [14,16,[24][25][26]31,32,[34][35][36][37][38]40,41]. There were nine from the USA [13,20,22,23,27,29,30,33,39], three studies from Australia [5,15,17], two each from Canada [18,19], and South Africa [24,26], one each from China [14], Kenya [38], Mexico…”

Community Engagement of African Americans in the Era of COVID-19: Considerations, Challenges, Implications, and Recommendations for Public Health

“…The MSM PRC relies on a deeply rooted, community partnership model that responds to the health priorities of vulnerable African American residents before, during, and after public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. For more than 20 years, the MSM PRC has applied dynamic CBPR approaches that focus on prevention, establish partnerships between communities and research entities, and are culturally tailored (6,(55)(56)(57).…”

Promoting Physical Activity Among Older Adults Using Community-Based Participatory Research With an Adapted PRECEDE-PROCEED Model Approach: The AEQUIPA/OUTDOOR ACTIVE Project

“…From our experiences, key to a successful CBPR approach are trust building and networking within the community. 8 , 46 Especially, gathering basic information and current administrational and political plans and topics of the district at the start of the study; this was an important step for gaining credibility within the pilot district when talking to stakeholders or participants. Moreover, this knowledge was important for ensuring sustainability of the implemented intervention measures.…”