The Womens Collective

Adapting a DEBI project for African American Women: Prosper and the

Generations Project

Prosper Program Staff

Ndidi N Amutah- Prosper! Program Coordinator

Vanessa Edmundson- Prosper! Program Associate

Diane Jones- Clinical Supervisor

Cathleen Maine- Development Director

Patricia Nalls- Founder/Executive Director

The Mission of TWC

To meet the self-defined needs of women living with HIV/AIDS

To reduce barriers to care for women and their families by creating partnerships among service providers

Key Components of TWC

Women-Focused Peer-Based Family Centered Women Living with HIV

TWC’s History and Who We Help

Pat’s Story Only local DC AIDS service organization

created by and for women living with HIV/AIDS

Serving hundreds of HIV+ women

Demographics of TWC’s clients

The majority of women (98%) who have participated to date were African American, the remaining 2% were Latinas.

The majority of the women (56%) are in their mid-40’s.

Approximately 78% of the women receive public health insurance.

More than 90% of the women make under $15,000/year and for 18% of the women, there was no income or it was not reported.

Program Goals Alleviate maladaptive coping and

psychological distress among women with HIV;

Reduce the risk of HIV transmission (encourage the cessation of high-risk behaviors);

Reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission;

Program Goals cont.

Reduce the progression of HIV disease (improve adherence to medication therapies and other treatments)

Increase access to care and support by linking with family-centered case managers to facilitate access to sexual health services and other medical, psychiatric, social service, and community programs

Decrease risk for re-infection with HIV disease Decrease risk for co-infection with other STD’s.

Prevention Case Management

Addresses behavior change/modification Provides information on HIV

treatment/adherence information Focuses on “meeting the woman where she

is” Incentives offered

PROSPER! Program

Prosper! Group-Level Intervention (GLI)

Led by PWP associate 2 hour session, 2x a week

Skills-building group for women 10 sessions modeled on CDC’s Healthy Relationships

Curriculum (5 sessions), with 5 additional woman-focused sessions created by TWC

Topics include: Disclosure, Medical Adherence, Risky Behaviors, Ethnic and Gender Pride

Incentives offered

TWC curriculum Women focused

Client centered program provides peer support/counseling

creates connections between care-seekers and caregivers

promotes the participation and empowerment of women, families, partner's) and members of their support network in developing care plans based on their self-defined needs.

support women as a whole

intended to affect their physical and mental health in a positive manner

TWC curriculum cont.

TWC sessions focus on : gender and ethnic pride self healing empowerment treatment adherence mother-to-child transmission biological markers family coping co-infections

Pros and Cons of Adaptation

Pros: The curriculum is more woman focused, and

client centered It concentrates on topics that are important to

the overall well-being of the women Women get a chance to center on themselves,

and not HIV Gender and Ethnic Pride Empowerment

Pros and Cons of Adaptation cont.

Cons: Develop an additional evaluation component to measure the

adapted curriculum

Prosper! Lessons Learned

Challenges in scheduling appointments and reaching women:

Extensive paperwork

Low literacy rates

working with an established organization like Mosaica will grant us the time, effort, and resources necessary for the enhancement and eventual dissemination of our evaluation tools.

Future Recommendations for Program We would like to provide technical assistance

for other organizations around the country Disseminate project information through

presentations at local, national, and international conferences

Submit information to journals for publication Become a CDC DEBI intervention!

Evaluation

Background Changed evaluators after the second

cohort Current Phase

Data collection (early April) Data Analysis (end of April - May) Further restructuring of evaluation design

(May)

Evaluation TWC-PWP Evaluator:

Mosaica: The Center for Nonprofit Development and Pluralism

As a values-based multicultural nonprofit capacity-building organization, Mosaica helps community-based nonprofit organizations in the U.S. and internationally become more effective and sustainable.

Its special commitment is to strengthen and support groups that serve and empower groups whose voices are least likely to be heard when public policies are adopted and resources are allocated.

Evaluation

Key Evaluation Questions Is the design of the PWP program adequate to meet

program goals and objectives? To what extent did TWC maintain fidelity to the PWP

curriculum? To what extent is the Prevention with Positives

Program meeting their stated goals and objectives? What are the program’s strengths and areas for

improvements?

Evaluation

Data Collection Tools and Methods Pre- and Post-tests (3)

PCM Intake TWC - GLI Overall Program

Group Observation Form PCM Qualitative Data Form Follow-up interviews with past participants

Evaluation

Evaluation Team Emily Gantz McKay, Founding President and CEO

(Mosaica) Hila Berl, Program Administrator (Mosaica) Nicole Robinson, Program and Evaluation

Specialist (Mosaica) Prevention with Positives Staff (TWC)

Contact Information Email: nicole@mosaica.org Phone: (202) 887-0620 Website: www.mosaica.org

Quotes from Prosper participants

“ this is the best group I have been in”

“ I feel much better about myself”

“Its about me…what I want, and how I feel”

“ I feel more empowered now!”

Pictures of Program Participants

Pictures of Program Participants

Program Staff

Brainstorming and Q&A

Thank you!!!

Open-Discussion

Steps for replication of program

Has anyone else adapted DEBI’s?

Does anyone else work with HIV positive women?

General feedback is welcomed!!

The Women’s Collective

1436 U Street, NW

Washington, DC 20009

202.483.7003

info@womenscollective.org

ndidi@womenscollective.org