THE EVALUATION OF TARGETED OUTREACH IN AN ADOLESCENT HIV AIDS PROGRAM/

Purpose: Most HIV infected youth are unaware of their serostatus. Amon g adolescents who know they are HIV positive, only a small percentage are currently receiving care in age-specific programs. Establishing ef fective links between prevention and service programs is critical in r eaching this group of young people. Methods: A specific outreach strat egy was designed to develop more referrals from a wider variety of age ncies to better serve youth at risk for HIV. A needs assessment of com munity-based agencies was the basis for: 1. overcoming barriers to car e, 2. specifying the target population, 3. assessing existing referral s, and 4. selecting agencies for different levels of intensity of outr each. Results: Six barriers faced by potential referring agencies were identified and corresponding solutions created which were incorporate d into the outreach strategy. A comparison was made of referrals in th e years before, during and after the outreach strategy was instituted. A significant difference by (Chi2 analysis) was noted in the number o f agencies (p < 0.05), number of individuals (p < 0.01), number of app ointments kept (p < 0.01), and the number of HIV+ youth enrolled (p < 0.01) during the year when the plan was fully implemented compared to previous and subsequent years. Conclusions: Systematic targeted outrea ch programs are an efficient way to maximize the time and effort of ou treach staff. The result was an increase in the number and diversifity of referrals. This strategy could be used by groups caring for adults or younger children who want to expand services to include adolescent s or by groups providing HIV/AIDS care who want to specifically serve adolescents.