Evaluation of 37 AIDS prevention projects: successful approaches and barriers to program effectiveness

In 1988, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded grants to 54 AIDS prevention and service projects. This article presents the results from a survey of the 37 projects that contained a substantial prevention effort and embellishes these findings with qualitative data from in-depth site visits to 12 projects. Survey respondents reported conducting a mean of 19 different intervention activities. Small-group discussion, outreach to populations engaged in high-risk behaviors, and training peers and volunteers were the intervention activities rated most effective by project staff. Qualitative analysis identified eight factors facilitating intervention effectiveness. Three site-visited projects were chosen to exemplify the ways in which these facilitating factors contributed to the perceived effectiveness of small-group discussions, outreach, and the training of peer educators. Recommendations to guide the development and delivery of future community-based AIDS prevention projects are presented.