EVALUATION OF 37 AIDS-PREVENTION PROJECTS - SUCCESSFUL APPROACHES ANDBARRIERS TO PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS

In 1988, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded grants to 54 AIDS prevention and service projects. This article presents the results fro m a survey of the 37 projects that contained a substantial prevention effort and embellishes these findings with qualitative data from in-de pth site visits to 12 projects. Survey respondents reported conducting a mean of 19 different intervention activities. Small-group discussio n, outreach to populations engaged in high-risk behaviors, and trainin g peers and volunteers were the intervention activities rated most eff ective by project staff. Qualitative analysis identified eight factors facilitating intervention effectiveness, Three site-visited projects were chosen to exemplify the ways in which these facilitating factors contributed to the perceived effectiveness of small-group discussions, outreach, and the training of peer educators. Recommendations to guid e the development and delivery of future community-based AIDS preventi on projects are presented.