Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), proposes a research plan designed to develop and evaluate for feasibility, acceptability, cost and success a social network strategy for increasing early HIV testing among at-risk minority men and women. The research is designed to address four sets of questions that can inform future efforts to promote testing in underserved minority communities. First, will women who have participated in HIV prevention workshops be willing to contact members of their social networks they ascertain to be at high risk (based on a brief training) and encourage these individuals to get tested? Second, what are the sociodemographic and risk characteristics of individuals reached through this networking strategy? Third, are the individuals who access testing as a result of networking different from those that come through other channels? Finally, because of our ability to link study data to data collected as part of the previously funded research, the investigators will ask, what characteristics (including risk behaviors, psychological profiles, and attitudes about sexuality and gender roles) are associated with being a successful peer recruiter? To address these questions, the investigators will accomplish the following specific aims: 1) Design, develop, and pilot a brief social network intervention for increasing HIV testing among at-risk minority women and men; 2) Implement the intervention by enrolling Latinas and African American women (n=200) who have participated in an HIV prevention study as peer recruiters and training them to refer appropriate members of their network for testing; 3) Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention; 4) Evaluate the success of the social network intervention in increasing overall numbers of individuals tested of first-time testers, and the proportion of those tested who return for test results; 5) Compare risk profiles and sociodemographic characteristics of those tested and those who return for results as a result of the intervention with those who access testing through different channels; and 6) Conduct a cost analysis of the intervention to inform future planning.
| Vargo, Sue; Agronick, Gail; O'Donnell, Lydia et al. (2004) Using peer recruitment and OraSure to increase HIV testing. Am J Public Health 94:29-31 |
