The Role of Community Consultants in Designing an HIV Prevention Intervention

Abstract

This article describes the significant role of community members during the intervention development phase of a randomized clinical trial of an HIV prevention intervention for African American and Latina women and their main sexual partners. Sixteen women and 13 male partners were engaged as "consultants" in a series of focus group discussions aimed at exploring their reactions and ideas about potential topics and approaches for the intervention. Each individual participated in three focus groups-two single-sex groups and a third that brought women and their male partners together. Focus group data extended our knowledge about the impact of relationship dynamics on safer sex negotiation and allowed us to design an intervention that is contextually specific and pragmatic. Target community members can provide critical input during the intervention development process and should be recognized as viable and meaningful collaborators in all phases of intervention research.

Stakeholder engagement to informHIVclinical trials: a systematic review of the evidence

“…Of the 108 studies, 48 studies (44.4%) conducted stakeholder engagement in high‐income countries 5, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70. In contrast, fewer studies conducted stakeholder engagement in middle‐ (30 studies; 27.8%) 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93,...…”

Revisiting “Success”: Posttrial Analysis of a Gender-Specific HIV/STD Prevention Intervention

“…During intervention preplanning, it is quite common to carry out a qualitative phase in order to gain a contextualized understanding of the target population, aid the selection of an appropriate theoretical model, and design intervention materials (Altman, 1995;Madriz, 1998;Miller and Crabtree, 2000;Sormanti et al, 2001). Yet, we are not aware of any published study to date that has sought to use the same method posttrial in order to bolster an assessment of how interventions work.…”

Percepção dos adolescentes acerca da influência dos pais e pares nos seus comportamentos sexuais

“…O grupo focal designado, por vezes, como "discussão de grupo" envolve um pequeno grupo de pessoas com determinadas características, em que os participantes se centram e discutem sobre um determinado tema que lhes é apresentado pelo moderador da discussão (Krueger, 1994;Morgan, 2001;Krueger & Casey, 2000). Esta metodologia permite explorar as diferentes perspectivas dos participantes quanto a experiências pessoais, a crenças, a atitudes e a pensamentos subjacentes a um determinado comportamento (Stanton, Black, Kaljee, & Ricardo, 1993;Deslandes, 1997;Murray & Chamberlain, 1998;Sormati et al, 2001;Woollett et al, 1998).…”

“…Para que as intervenções sejam eficazes e bem sucedidas é necessário também intervir nas normas de influência social de modo a que o grupo de pares se influencie mutuamente em comportamentos de saúde (O'Leary & Raffaelli, 1996). A estratégia terá que ser a de reconhecer os adolescentes como elementos colaboradores fundamentais durante todo o processo de desenvolvimento das intervenções, pois só com um elevado grau de envolvimento dos jovens é possível ter intervenções, que reflictam necessidades específicas, que sejam culturalmente adequadas e consequentemente, efectivas (Sormati, Pereira, El-Bassel, Witte, & Gilbert, 2001). …”