Community-Based HIV Education and Prevention Workers Respond to a Changing Environment

Dale Guenter, MD, MPH

Basanti Majumdar, PhD, RegN

Dennis Willms, PhD

Robb Travers, MA

Gina Browne, PhD, RegN

Greg Robinson, MD

The purpose of this study was to understand the culture, values, skills and activities of staff involved in education and prevention activities in community-based AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) in Ontario, Canada, and to understand the role of evaluation research in their prevention programming. In this qualitative study, 33 staff members from 11 ASOs participated in semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. ASO staff experience tension between a historical grassroots organizational culture characterized by responsiveness and relevance and a more recent culture of profesionnalization. Target populations have changed from being primarily gay men to an almost unlimited variety of communities. Program emphasis has shifted from education and knowledge dissemination to a broadly based mandate of health promotion, community development, and harm reduction. Integration of evidence of effectiveness, social-behavioral theory, or systematic evaluation is uncommon. Understanding these points of tension is important for the nursing profession when it is engaged with ASOs in programming or evaluation research.

The entire article is published in the Journal of The Association of Nurses AIDS Care, Vol. 16, No. 1, January/February 2005, 29-36.

Community-Linked Evaluation of AIDS Resources

(CLEAR Unit)

An Ontario Initiative to Enhance the Effectiveness of AIDS Services Organizations (ASOs) - October, 2003

G. Browne, Ph.D., Reg. N.

J.A. Browne, Ph.D., M.S.W.

F. McGee, B.A.

The objective of this column is to describe the rationale, process and early outcomes of establishing a community-based research unit. The AIDS Bureau of the Ontario Provincial Government established the Community-Linked Evaluation of AIDS Resources (CLEAR Unit) which works in partnership with the AIDS Bureau and the 31 of 74 AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) in Ontario.

CLEAR has demonstrated, in the opinion of the AIDS Bureau and others, that university academics and community-based agencies, administrators and staff can learn from each other and work together. This partnership has allowed specific ASO research to be conducted on issues and questions which otherwise may not have occurred due to lack of funding, resources, expertise or all three. ASOs can rely on the staff of the CLEAR Unit to assist with project implementation as well as analysis, reports and presentations. ASOs are actively involved in all stages of the process from initial discussions, proposal preparation, study design and implementation to the analysis, final reports and presentations. Academics play a pivotal role in knowledge transfer and are able to offer objectivity at times when agencies require an external partner.

This column is currently "In Press". The entire column will be published in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (JANAC).

Union of Ontario Indians

Community-Based, Culturally Sensitive HIV/AIDS Education for Aboriginal Adolescents

(Published Article-January 2004)

Basanti B. Majumdar

Chambers L. Tracey

Roberts Jacqueline.

Research is an essential component of effective, evidence-based nursing practice. Limited scientific data have been published on Canadian Aboriginals, and even less information is available on HIV prevention efforts aimed at Aboriginal youth. The need for more research on HIV and AIDS among Aboriginals, and especially Aboriginal youth, is highlighted throughout the article as a means to improving prevention interventions for this vulnerable population. At the same time, insights gained from a culture-sensitive, HIV/AIDS educational program that targeted a group of Aboriginal adolescents from a local First Nations community in Ontario are discussed. Implications for future HIV/AIDS peer-based prevention efforts using the train-the-trainer technique are also considered.

This purpose of this study was to promote knowledge of HIV/AIDS among Aboriginal adolescents through a cooperative venture and to encourage the sharing of perceptions and values among peer groups.

The objectives of this study were as follows:

a) to assist an Aboriginal population to select a member from the community to be trained as a facilitator of educational programs on HIV/AIDS,

b) to increase knowledge of HIV/AIDS in a community of Aboriginal youth, and

c) to foster positive attitudes and open-mindedness towards HIV/AIDS as a condition.

Approval to conduct the study was obtained from the McMaster University Ethics Committee and the local First Nations Health Committee.

The entire article is published in the Journal of Transcultural Nursing, Vol. 15, No. 1, 69-73, January 2004.