Protege tu Familia: Hazte la Prueba
Funding Agency: Health Resource Services Administration's (HRSA) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Funding Period: September 2007 - September 2010
The purpose of this project was to educate and empower Latino communities by training and providing promotores with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and materials to effectively conduct HIV prevention outreach among groups of Latinos who may not have perceived themselves to be at risk. The project goals were to create a Protege tu Familia: Hazte la Prueba (Protect Your Family: Get Tested) Promotores HIV/AIDS Prevention Kit, conduct charlas (guided conversations) within the Long Beach and San Ysidro communities, and encourage HIV testing and utilization of health services while reducing the costs associated with late-stage AIDS care. A total of 461 participants were enrolled in the intervention. Evaluation of the charla outcomes demonstrated statistically significant increases in HIV knowledge, intention to practice safer sex and communicate sexual risk to partner(s), and to engage in HIV testing. A total of 46 project tool kits were distributed to promotores de salud from numerous community based organizations. To obtain the kit, the promotores attended a full-day training wherein they learned to use the kit, including outreach and evaluation strategies and methods.