Involving the community in HIV prevention program evaluation

This article describes the challenges and benefits of involving the community in evaluating an HIV prevention intervention for African American women. The intervention, Women's Initiative for Sexual Health, was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial. The intervention and the evaluation involved the community in which the intervention was delivered. To solicit criticism and suggestions for the evaluation, the research team conducted a focus group within each of three collaborating community-based organizations. Our goal was to increase the relevance and appropriateness of the evaluation by showing respect for program participants and consequently for cultures other than our own. We recommend that other researchers involve the community in program evaluation.