Provider Perspectives on Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Interventions: Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation

Abstract

Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, community-based organizations (CBOs) have been key players in combating this disease through grassroots prevention programs and close ties to at-risk populations. Increasingly, both funding agencies and public health institutions require that CBOs implement evidence-based HIV prevention interventions, most of which are researcher developed. However, after completing training for these evidence-based interventions (EBIs), agencies may either abandon plans to implement them or significantly modify the intervention. Based on 22 semistructured interviews with HIV prevention service providers, this article explores the barriers and facilitators to dissemination and implementation of EBIs included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) program. Results suggest that there is a tension between the need to implement interventions with fidelity and the lack of guidance on how to adapt the interventions for their constituencies and organizational contexts. Findings suggest the need for HIV prevention intervention development and dissemination that integrate community partners in all phases of research and dissemination.