A decision support system for AIDS intervention and prevention

In recent years, the importance of information systems has been identified as a vital issue to continuing success in AIDS intervention and prevention (AIP). The advances in information technology have resulted in integrative information systems including decision support systems (DSS). The concept of DSS for AIP was created at the intersection of two trends. The first trend was a growing belief that AIP information systems are successful in automating operations in AIP programs. The second was a continuing improvement in modeling and software development in the AIP area. This paper presents an integrated DSS for AIP. The system is integrated with a database and achieves its efficiency by incorporating various algorithms and models to support AIP decision processes. The application examples include screening AIDS-risky behaviors, evaluating educational interventions, and scheduling AIP sessions. The implementation results present evidence of the usefulness of the system in AIP.