Adapting an evidence-based intervention: tales of the Hustler Project

The field of HIV prevention is rapidly moving toward evidence-based practice as the standard way community-based organizations should do business. Current discussion about how to transfer evidence-based HIV prevention programs and practices to community-based organizations favors the perspectives of those scientists who hope to disseminate their programs to service providers. To date, there are few descriptions of community-based organizations' experiences adopting programs presented in the HIV prevention literature. Understanding and learning from community-based organizations' experiences of adopting programs can inform intervention design and the theory and practice of technology transfer. The current article describes one organization's experience adopting the popular opinion leader intervention. Implications for technology transfer are provided.