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An Intervention to Help Community-Based Organizations Implement an Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Intervention: The Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System

  • Original Paper
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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Considerable resources have been spent developing and rigorously testing HIV prevention intervention models, but such models do not impact the AIDS pandemic unless they are implemented effectively by community-based organizations (CBOs) and health departments. The Mpowerment Project (MP) is being implemented by CBOs around the US. It is a multilevel, evidence-based HIV prevention program for young gay/bisexual men that targets individual, interpersonal, social, and structural issues by using empowerment and community mobilization methods. This paper discusses the development of an intervention to help CBOs implement the MP called the Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System (MPTES); CBOs’ uptake, utilization and perceptions of the MPTES components; and issues that arose during technical assistance. The seven-component MPTES was provided to 49 CBOs implementing the MP that were followed longitudinally for up to two years. Except for the widely used program manual, other program materials were used early in implementing the MP and then their use declined. In contrast, once technical assistance was proactively provided, its usage remained constant over time, as did requests for technical assistance. CBOs expressed substantial positive feedback about the MPTES, but felt that it needs more focus on diversity issues, describing real world implementation approaches, and providing guidance on how to adapt the MP to diverse populations.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the following grants that have supported this research: NIMH Grant MH065196, CDC Award U62/CCU913552, and the Universitywide AIDS Research Program (now called the California HIV/AIDS Research Program) Grants PC 98-SF-107 and PC 98-SF-107S. We would also like to acknowledge the helpful input from an anonymous reviewer in the preparation of this manuscript. Finally, we wish to thank the many people at community-based organizations who participated in this project—it is not an easy life at these nonprofit organizations and we respect the time and effort that they gave us completing surveys and giving us their opinions on a range of topics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco, 50 Beale Street, Suite 1300, San Francisco, CA, 94105, USA

    Susan M. Kegeles, Gregory Rebchook, Lance Pollack, Scott Tebbetts, John Hamiga, David Sweeney & Benjamin Zovod

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    David Huebner

Authors
  1. Susan M. Kegeles
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  2. Gregory Rebchook
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  3. Lance Pollack
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  4. David Huebner
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  5. Scott Tebbetts
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  6. John Hamiga
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  7. David Sweeney
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  8. Benjamin Zovod
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Correspondence to Susan M. Kegeles.

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Kegeles, S.M., Rebchook, G., Pollack, L. et al. An Intervention to Help Community-Based Organizations Implement an Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Intervention: The Mpowerment Project Technology Exchange System. Am J Community Psychol 49, 182–198 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-011-9451-0

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