The purpose of this research is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an interactive Internet program or transferring HIV prevention intervention models from the research arena to nongovernmental organizations NGOs) in developing countries with high HIV incidence. The study will make use of Internet-based dissemination methods because, if found to be successful, the project will have established a technology transfer approach that can then be widely used in a cost-effective, rapid manner by national and international public health organizations such as NIH, CDC, UNAIDS, WHO, and networks of NGOs. In past research, we found that technology transfer methods that provide intervention manuals, face-to-face staff training, and individualized consultation for implementing research-based HIV prevention interventions facilitate their adoption by service providers. This framework will be expanded to now test the use of Internet technologies to transfer an HIV prevention approach--the """"""""popular opinion leader"""""""" (POL) HIV prevention intervention--to developing country NGOs. Following a pilot phase, 80 NGOs in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin American will be enrolled in the trial. Each NGO will first be assessed to determine its organizational characteristics and the full repertoire of HIV prevention services it has offered in the 6 months preceding baseline. NGOs will then be randomized to one of two study conditions. 40 experimental condition NGOs will receive a 6-month structured dissemination intervention, delivered over the Internet, to provide orientation, staff training, and consultation for implementing the POL intervention in their communities. Six and 12 months later, the service program assessment will be repeated with all 80 NGOs to determine whether experimental condition NGOs were more likely than controls to adopt the research-based POL intervention. The same Internet-based technology transfer intervention will then be replicated with the 40 former control group NGOs. Follow-up assessments will determine maintenance of POL intervention use, tailoring or adaptations made to it, staff attitudes and satisfaction with the intervention, and implementation costs. This study will add to our scientific knowledge concerning approaches for transferring effective research-based HIV prevention approaches to community-based service providers; will test and develop a prototype model for using advanced Internet-based approaches for technology transfer; and will allow HIV prevention research advances to better benefit the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
