Research evaluating the effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions can benefit the goal of improving the nation's public health only when research-based interventions are successfully transferred to service providers. Traditional models of training and technical assistance provision have changed very little over the years, and promising new communication technologies exist but have not yet been adapted to meet the need for better technology transfer. New sustainable approaches are needed to quickly, flexibly, and cost-effectively move advances in HIV prevention science--whenever they occur-to those who deliver HIV prevention services, often the staffs of community-based agencies. This study will evaluate an internet-based approach for assisting CBOs in adopting a community-level HIV prevention intervention--the """"""""Popular Opinion Leader"""""""" (POL) model--shown effective in research literature. Following in-depth assessments of their current services repertoire, and a variety of organizational and staff characteristics that may mediate innovation, a national sample of 90 AIDS prevention CBOs will be randomized to one of three dissemination program conditions: (1) a control condition in which CBOs receive only POL intervention implementation material packages: (2) a traditional comprehensive dissemination program that provides manuals, on-site CBO staff training workshop in POL, and follow-up telephone consultation on intervention implementation; or (3) an Internet dissemination program that provides POL implementation materials on a website, guides CBO staff users through a structured 15-segment interactive, Internet-based training curriculum, and provides follow-up consultation on-line using advanced, desktop computer video conferencing methods. We will determine the comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the three dissemination methods for producing adoption and use of the research-based intervention by CBOs between baseline and at 15-month follow-up, as well as mediators and moderators of intervention adoption. We hypothesize that both the traditional comprehensive and the Internet dissemination modalities will promote more successful use of the research-based intervention than manual distribution alone, but the Internet modality will be more cost-effective, especially if taken to scale as a national technology transfer model. The goal of this research is to develop and evaluate a prototype for an Internet-based """"""""virtual"""""""" training system infrastructure that can be used to facilitate rapid research-to-practice technology transfer of public health interventions.
| Kelly, J A; Somlai, A M; Benotsch, E G et al. (2006) Programmes, resources, and needs of HIV-prevention nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa, Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. AIDS Care 18:12-21 |
| Fernandez, M Isabel; Kelly, Jeffrey A; Stevenson, L Yvonne et al. (2005) HIV prevention programs of nongovernmental organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean: the Global AIDS Intervention Network project. Rev Panam Salud Publica 17:154-62 |
