Fax-In Forms as a Technology for Evaluating Community Projects: An Example of HIV Risk Reduction

Abstract

This article describes a new technology that can be easily adapted to pennit virtually instantaneous tracking and evaluation of community-based projects that are widely dispersed in the field. Current technologies permit special forms to be sent via an ordinary fax machine into a centrally located personal computer equipped with an inexpensive fax modem board. As the faxes are received, hand printed, and "bubble-coded," responses are interpreted and automatically stored in a database, ready for instantaneous statistical analysis. An application is described that uses this technology to track street outreach efforts throughout Los Angeles to injection drug users, prostitutes, and others at high risk to contract and spread the human immunodeficiency virus. Tracking outreach and service efforts provides the capacity for program directors to refocus efforts and to ensure that interventions are conducted in a timely and appropriate manner. The use of up-to-date statistical summaries and management feedback ensures that the outreach and intervention efforts carried on in the poorest inner-city neighborhoods are run efficiently and effectively.