The key mission of the Psychosocial Assessment Core is to generate a comprehensive set of information about the psychosocial and behavioral changes that occur as a result of a Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) intervention. This intervention is specifically designed to change health behaviors, reduce mood disturbances and enhance quality of life in persons infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or who are at risk for HIV infection. Because the proposed Program Project will test the efficacy of CBSM in a wide variety of infected and at-risk populations varying in ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, it was critical to strike a balance between (a) having a standardized set of assessment instruments and conditions under which testing would take place, and (b) tailoring the assessment scope and format to be most appropriate for the population being tested. We have attempted to achieve this balance by generating a Central Core Assessment Battery of tests that persons in all of the projects will receive, embellishing this central core of tests with measures that are specific to certain projects, and varying the format in which testing takes place (e.g., Project 0002) participants will use an on-site paper-and-pencil format, Project 0004 and 0005 participants will have a face-to-face oral administration of the battery on-site. This Core is responsible for conducting a basic phone screen to rule out individuals who do not meet essential criteria, scheduling screening visits for prospective recruits, conducting face-to-face psychiatric screening interviews, administering psychosocial questionnaires at each time point in Projects 0002 0004 0005 ensuring participants' comfort and minimizing participant burden, and coordinating participant compensations. The administration of these measures by a central core is reasonable given that (a) all of these measures will be utilized in each project of this Program Project, and (b) administration of measures by Core personnel would provide the constancy of assessment conditions and blinding of participants' group assignment needed in order to conduct unbiased program-wide comparisons. At the same time such a blinded procedure may allow participants to respond to certain question (e.g. concerning risk behaviors) honestly without fear of offending study personnel with whom they may have bonded (e.g., group leaders) over the course of the study. They Psychosocial Assessment Core personnel will work with the Recruitment Specialist to assure the appropriate placement of specific participants into the different project and with the Retention Specialist to ensure completion of assessments at each time point for all of the projects.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 54 publications
