The VOICES/VOCES Success Story: Effective Strategies for Training, Technical Assistance and Community-Based Organization Implementation.

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project successfully disseminated VOICES/VOCES, a brief video-based HIV risk reduction intervention targeting African American and Latino heterosexual men and women at risk for HIV infection. Elements of the dissemination strategy included a comprehensive and user-friendly intervention kit, comprising (a) an implementationmanual and othermaterials necessary for conducting the intervention (b) a Training of Facilitators (TOF) curriculum used to teach agency staff how to implement the EBI in their setting, (c) a network of expert trainers who attend a training institute to become adept at using the TOF curriculum to train facilitators, (d) a comprehensive training coordination center to plan and deliver TOF trainings, (e) proactive technical assistance to trainers, and (f) post-TOF technical assistance for local implementers. This article reports on those strategies and a local CBO's successful participation in DEBI, resulting implementation of VOICES/VOCES, with unique approaches to adaptation and tailoring.

Effectiveness of the VOICES/VOCES Sexually Transmitted Disease/Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention Intervention When Administered by Health Department Staff: Does It Work in the “Real World”?

“…17 Ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) selected it to disseminate, VOICES/VOCES has been one of the interventions most frequently chosen by agencies and health departments. 18,19 Despite its wide-spread use, this is the first examination of whether benefits achieved in the original efficacy trial can be replicated when VOICES/VOCES is delivered by agencies.…”

Computer technology-based interventions in HIV prevention: state of the evidence and future directions for research

“…Thus, a consideration here is how CBIs can be packaged for easy implementation. Given the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project, which has aimed to diffuse a variety of human-delivered HIV behavioral interventions into practice (Collins, Harshbarger, Sawyer, & Hamdallah, 2006), many examples of such “packaged for use” interventions exist (Eke et al, 2006; Hamdallah, Vargo, & Herrera, 2006). The new question raised here, however, is how to package a CBI for easy implementation and use.…”

The Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions Project: Development, Implementation, and Lessons Learned

“…DEBI trainers include STD/HIV Prevention Training Centers (Healthy Relationships, VOICES/VOCES, MMMV, Community PROMISE); consultants and staff from the AED (POL, Safety Counts); researchers from University of California-San Francisco (Mpowerment) and Yale Holistic Health Recovery Program (HHRP); AIDS Education Training Centers on Partnership for Health; CBAs (National Network for Youth on Street Smart and Community Wellness Project on RAPP); and a national cadre of volunteers that was trained to train on VOICES/VOCES (see Hamdallah, Vargo, & Herrera, 2006, this issue) and SISTA (see Prather et al, 2006, this issue).…”