Involving families in an urban HIV preventive intervention: How community collaboration addresses barriers to participation

This article addresses the increasing need within urban communities for eff ective, culturally relevant HIV prevention programs. The recruitment effort s of a family-based prevention program aimed at promoting health and preven ting HIV risk exposure in urban, African American fourth and fifth grade ch ildren living in a community with high rates of HIV infection is detailed. The program, referred to as the CHAMP (Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescen t Mental Health Project) Family Program, is overseen by a collaborative par tnership of community parents, school staff, and university-based researche rs (Paikoff & McKay, 1995). The recruitment strategies developed as a resul t of this community-research collaboration are described. Preliminary resul ts of the project's efforts to reach out to families within the targeted, i nner-city community are presented.