No abstract

Adolescence is a time for exploration and risk-taking; in today's urban environment, with the twin threats of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS, the stakes are particularly high. This paper describes a community-based participatory research project to design, implement, and evaluate a faith-based substance abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention program for African-American adolescents. A coalition of university-based investigators and African-American church member stakeholders collaborated on all aspects of Project BRIDGE, the 3-year intervention to reduce substance abuse and HIV/AIDS in African-American adolescents. Our results support the use of community-based participatory research to create desirable change in this setting. Adolescents who participated in Project BRIDGE reported significantly less marijuana and other drug use and more fear of AIDS than a comparison group. Project BRIDGE has been designated an official ministry of the church and the program has been extended to others in the larger metropolitan community. The church now has a well-trained volunteer staff University faculty developed skills in negotiating with community-based settings. The coalition remains strong with plans for continued collaborative activities.

Reported CGS use has rapidly increased and spans diverse clinical settings and patient phenotypes. Economic evaluations support the cost-saving potential of diagnostic CGS. Multidisciplinary implementation research, including more robust outcome measurement and economic evaluation, is needed to demonstrate clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of CGS.