As news headlines report staggering numbers of people infected with HIV or AIDS across the globe and as stereotypes of typical AIDS patients become less and less specific to particular sexual orientations and ethnic backgrounds, the AIDS pandemic shows little sign of relenting. AIDS crosses geopolitical and social barriers, and social and behavioral scientists are confronted with the new challenge of developing scientific inquiry and corresponding interventions around participatory, community-based, and community-focused methods. These interventions are increasingly targeting the contextual influences on individual behavior, such as peer groups, social networks and support systems, and community norms. Community-level interventions also draw on local resources and are respectful of sociocultural circumstances and traditions. This book articulates how the social and behavioral sciences can respond to HIV/AIDS. It is written for all who have a stake in AIDS research, stimulating discussion and debate about the natures of community research and intervention broadly across such disciplines as public health, community health education, urban planning, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy of science. The book proposes alternative perspectives on means of ascertaining knowledge about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the inclusion of community collaboration in interventions.

A detailed ethnographic description of the AIDS epidemic in ten U.S. cities and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Delve into the uncharted territory of the “hidden” drug addict--users who are not in treatment, not incarcerated, and not officially accessible for research purposes through traditional means. AIDS and Community-Based Drug Intervention Programs describes short-term interventions used to reduce the odds that these drug users will get infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The book explains new methods that are being developed, such as targeted sampling, social network analysis, geomapping, and other amalgams of both quantitative and qualitative approaches, that need to be forged to overcome the challenges of the war against AIDS. The research described in this important book was conducted under the Cooperative Agreement for AIDS Community-Based Outreach/Intervention Research funding mechanism of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Chapters include research on several ethnic groups, including Alaska natives, Puerto Ricans, and Navaho teens. AIDS and Community-Based Drug Treatment Programs, written by experts in the field, is a broad-based treatment of the subject by those who are actually doing the work in the trenches. Authors cover topics such as: the use of goal-oriented counseling and peer support to reduce HIV/AIDS risk quantitative and qualitative methods to assess behavioral change among injection drug users (IDUs) the importance of sampling from hidden populations in research a public health model for reducing AIDS-related risk behavior among IDUs and their sexual partners characteristics of female sexual partners of IDUs strategies used to implement random sampling strategies in the recruitment of out-of-treatment crack and IDUs ethnographic analysis of intravenous drug use analysis of contact tracing strategies employed to combat the AIDS epidemic the use of pile sorts to enhance other tools used by drug prevention programs AIDS and Community-Based Drug Intervention Programs is full of current research and useful information for professionals interested in learning about strategies for conducting HIV/AIDS research among hard-to-reach populations. Substance abuse researchers, treatment professionals, and people involved in AIDS prevention programs, state and county health departments, and criminal justice systems will find much relevant and important information to use in their daily work.

Community-Based Health Interventions covers the skills necessary to change health in a community setting through the reduction of disease, disease conditions, and risks to health, as well as create a supportive environment for the maintenance of the behavior changes. The first section provides background information about why interventions in communities are important, the history of several major community interventions, ethical issues in the design and implementation of interventions and the different types of interventions. The second section covers planning and activities needed to complete an intervention, along with the theoretical basis of interventions. The third section shows how to assess the needs and strengths of a particular community, gain community support, define the goals of an intervention and get started. This section also contains information on obtaining material and financial support and on strategies for continuing the intervention beyond its initial phase. The final section examines current work and problems encountered as well as projecting future trends. Each chapter includes practice exercises or activities useful to students learning to develop interventions at the population or community level, such as public health, social work and nursing.

This book is designed to help frontline prevention organizations answer two questions that are of utmost importance. First, how effective are their services; and second, can their work be improved? The absence of rigorous evaluation is a barrier to stable funding for community organizations, and the strategies in Preventing AIDS: Community-Science Collaborations can help overcome that barrier. The book examines six unique efforts to prevent the spread of AIDS among high-risk populations such as prostitutes, injection drug users, impoverished pregnant women, migrant workers, transgendered persons, and prison inmates. You'll learn about the difficult but critically important cooperative efforts between community organizations who do frontline prevention work and university scientists who evaluate the effectiveness of that work. Handy tables and figures make important data easy to access and understand. To view an excerpt online, find the book in our QuickSearch catalog at www.HaworthPress.com.

​​​​ ​ Providing detailed information on structural HIV prevention interventions, this book is intended for health care practitioners and researchers to plan, implement, and evaluate such interventions in their own communities. As defined by the CDC, structural interventions focus on the physical, social, cultural, political, economic, legal, and/or policy aspects of the environment. Designed to reach a large number of individuals, structural interventions usually occur across entire communities, cities, or countries. As a result, the resources required to initiate structural interventions can far exceed those required for smaller-scale behavioral programs. However, changes from structural interventions have the potential to last over time, even after the programs have ended, resulting in effective use of public and private prevention resources.​ Because the reach of structural interventions is typically larger than that of individual- or group-focused interventions (for example, the 100% Condom Use Program, which was implemented countrywide in Thailand), their influence may be equally—if not more—significant.This book is a resource for health practitioners, educators, and researchers who seek HIV/AIDS structural prevention programs that have been shown to be effective in their regions or for their target populations (e.g. injection drug users, commercial sex workers, or the general public). With extensive case studies, the book classifies interventions according to the desired outcomes (specific behavior or policy changes) so that the reader may focus on examples of programs with similar goals and target populations to their own. Addresses the quintessential public health ethical dilemma regarding which types of environmental changes should be mandatory via legislation and which should be voluntary, promoted via programmatic, practice, and policy change. ​

Connect multiple resources to form effective strategies to deal with AIDS An effective strategy to deal with the AIDS epidemic is to have a wide range of scientists, clinicians, front-line workers, and clients distribute theory, care, and resource knowledge geometrically through all levels. The Geometry of Care: Linking Resources, Research, and Community to Reduce Degrees of Separation Between HIV Treatment and Prevention shows how to link bottom-up and top-down approaches to advance care, services, resources, training, theory, and policy analysis. Leading authorities draw upon behavioral and organizational theory to discuss the development of the frameworks necessary to effectively disseminate knowledge to benefit those needing care and to protect the community from further risk. The Geometry of Care builds a powerful case for the development of sustained links among academic resources and the community. Practical strategies are provided to set up a dynamic response framework to integrate the latest advances in treatment and prevention. The first section focuses on System and Program Level Geometry, the second on Patient and Provider Level Geometry. This is the book that shows how to meet the challenge to effectively understand, diagnose, treat, and prevent AIDS simultaneously on multiple fronts. Topics in The Geometry of Care include: expanding strategic care to include patient, community, and medical centers the assessment, dissemination, and integration of new advances the bottom-up development of links among providers, systems, and settings increased communication through the network of generalists and specialists within hospitals examples of infrastructure building at a family health service, a medical center-based AIDS center, and a home-based ambulatory care program how sustained setting/site relationships help to foster customized interventions serving clients better by tracking them through data management integration of prevention and treatment for clients dealing with multiple co-morbidities forging links between Western and traditional medicine tailoring prevention strategies to fit the individual shifting the locus of care to the HIV-positive individual an inter-organizational approach to supporting patient-provider interaction understanding barriers to adherence HIV as a family disease—and the geometry of care as a family issue the need for partnership between patient and primary care provider individuals with HIV and their instrumental role in prevention and transmission much, much more! The Geometry of Care is a unique, horizon-expanding book that is perfect for community workers, community activists, public health professionals, HIV clinical providers, adherence specialists, applied sociologists, and other practitioners dedicated to finding ways to provide the best in care.