PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH FOR SUSTAINING INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITYCHANGE - A MODEL OF HIV PREVENTION EDUCATION

The authors describe the implementation, results, and evaluations of a participatory action research project in which they used qualitative methods to do HN prevention education with lesbians and bisexual women . This grassroots project combined collective consciousness-raising, q ualitative field interviewing, and individualized HIV prevention educa tion in an experientially intense intervention sustained over a 2-year period in community sites. Systematic data collection about HN risk t aking among lesbians and bisexual women was conjoined with efforts to mobilize the community for behavior change to prevent HIV. A cadre of peer educators conducted 1,189 field interviews and produced 55 HIV pr evention presentations with a total of 3,665 women in attendance. Key findings describe the HIV risk taking common in this population and th eir needs for support in reducing risk. Process evaluations of the pro ject suggest that its combined individual and group approach and its c ontinuity over time were effective. Outcomes suggest that the project positively affected participants' intent to change risk behaviors, sup ported incremental changes to reduce risk, assisted participants in th e interpersonal realm of partner negotiations, and began to change com munity conventions about sexual expectations and practices.