Module 6: HIV Prevention Evaluation for Native Communities

Goal of Module 6: To provide an evaluation framework for your HIV prevention intervention program.

In order to provide an effective HIV prevention intervention for Native people, you will need to ensure that a solid, culturally relevant evaluation plan informs your program from beginning to end. Program evaluation can help determine whether your HIV prevention intervention program is accomplishing what it set out to accomplish. This module includes an overview of helpful cultural components that effect evaluation, hands-on considerations, evaluation steps and tools, and avenues to share lessons learned to help you build an effective evaluation for your HIV prevention intervention program.

Contents 2 Hands-On Considerations

This module helps you to create and conduct evaluation of your HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention program.

It includes information on:

1.


Key Concepts to Guide Evaluation

2.
Hands-On Considerations
3.
Evaluation Steps

When conducting evaluations in Native communities, you cannot be too careful about maintaining confidentiality. Whether a Native community is rural or urban, the interpersonal connections are strong and word travels fast. Remember this when considering the best evaluation methods for your project. For example, if you plan to use a focus group to gather information about behaviors that put people at risk for HIV, you might have difficulty persuading people to share their beliefs, knowledge, and experiences. Community members might be reluctant to discuss sensitive issues in a group in general, but they might also be concerned that information shared in the group will be repeated elsewhere. There may be women who are reluctant to discuss certain topics for fear that their partners will find out and react with violence. If focus groups are important to the evaluation, always set protocols about confidentiality, and work to establish a safe and trusting environment. Let participants know that they can stop participating in the study at any point.

It is important to also address concerns about confidentiality when conducting interviews with community members--particularly with members of at-risk populations like drug users or MSM. Interviewers should work to establish trust. It is important to explain thoroughly that the information collected during the interview is strictly confidential and has no identifying elements. When appropriate, establish your role as a participant in gathering knowledge about the community, rather than an expert on the community. Utilize Native people as focus group facilitators, interviewers, and surveyors, but try to recruit individuals who live outside of the community participating in the interviews or in focus groups.

If your evaluation includes community forums or town hall meetings, encourage community members to conduct much of the action. Again, remember that some Native people may be reluctant to speak out or to say something that could be considered negative. Depending on your focus population, you may need to translate your instruments into the respective Tribal/Nation language. (If your focus population includes Elders, then you should probably consider doing this.) Honoring the information that community members are sharing, the giving of gifts in the form of incentives or culturally meaningful items is standard practice. If serving food, be sure to include sugar-free items to accommodate the many Native people living with diabetes.

When introducing a program or seeking information on an existing program, it is important to explain the program clearly to the community. Include information about how the results will be reported and how the outcomes will benefit the community. You can more easily attain community support if community members (1) understand how the information will be used and (2) feel comfortable that the program/study and its reports will not unfavorably represent or victimize the community in any way. It is important to have a discussion about the way that the community would want information shared, and to establish their role in the ownership of information about their community. If the project is tribally-specific, make sure that you are familiar with protocols around asking permission to share information outside of the program.

    • Brainstorm confidentiality in your community. What are some ways you can protect your community and community members' privacy?