The investigators propose to develop a behavioral intervention aimed at public health workers who perform contact investigation and designed to enhance the contact investigation process. The project will be based on social learning theory and will be conducted in several phases. First, a process evaluation of the current contact investigation process will be conducted. Results will guide the development of a revised contact investigation protocol, a software program for notebook computers designed to enhance protocol implementation, and a behavioral intervention to educate contact investigators in the use of the protocol and software. A formative evaluation of the intervention, protocol, and software will be used to refine the procedures, which will be implemented throughout the State of Alabama. An impact evaluation will then be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the procedures. If the impact evaluation results are satisfactory, the behavioral intervention and contact investigation procedures will be developed in a format that can be exported to other areas and settings.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL055752-04
Application #
2771484
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1-CSR-I (S1))
Project Start
1995-09-30
Project End
2000-08-31
Budget Start
1998-09-01
Budget End
2000-08-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Alabama Birmingham
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004514360
City
Birmingham
State
AL
Country
United States
Zip Code
35294
Gerald, L B; Bruce, F; Brooks, C M et al. (2003) Standardizing contact investigation protocols. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 7:S369-74
Bailey, William C; Gerald, Lynn B; Kimerling, Michael E et al. (2002) Predictive model to identify positive tuberculosis skin test results during contact investigations. JAMA 287:996-1002