Tools for Building Culturally Competent HIV Prevention Programs (CC)

Investigators: Julie Solomon, Jacqueline Berman, Laura Lessard, Diana Dull Akers, Angela Amarillas, Megan Bunch, & Josefina J. Card

In the fight to reduce the spread of HIV, addressing the specific HIV-related needs of diverse cultural groups is becoming increasingly important. Tools for Building Culturally Competent Prevention Programs is designed to help HIV prevention professionals who are planning, implementing, or evaluating programs to increase the cultural competence and effectiveness of HIV prevention efforts in their local communities. The Tools website is divided into Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation Toolkits. Each Toolkit comprises a set of research-based, practitioner-friendly resources, including: Key Concepts, which summarize in plain language the important concepts and practices in effective, culturally competent HIV prevention programming. Interactive elements within the Key Concept webpages help reinforce the concepts with concrete examples. Tools, which are user-friendly MSWord checklists and worksheets that facilitate culturally competent programming. The user can type directly into each document and save it for future use. Other Resources, which include "tales from the field"--true stories of how the key concepts have been put into practice in real-world prevention settings--and links to additional relevant resources available through the Internet. The web site also contains an introductory section that provides an overview of the concepts of culture and cultural competence, and their relevance for HIV prevention programming. The site also offers a glossary of all the terms used in the site.