Amsterdam 2015
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| Abstract #2114 - PrEP | ||||
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Session: 50.3: PrEP (Symposium) on Friday @ 11.00-12.30 in C103 Chaired by John de Wit, Veronica Noseda Authors: Presenting Author: Ms Ibidun Fakoya - University College London, United Kingdom |
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| Additional Authors: | ||||
| Aim: To meaningfully involve migrant communities and people living with HIV in the design, development and delivery of a large research project. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Migrant groups make up a substantial proportion of the HIV epidemic in Europe. Individuals from migrant communities may be at increased risk of acquiring HIV, may be unaware of their HIV infection and are more likely to be diagnosed late. Yet, relatively little is known about the HIV prevention and treatment needs of migrant communities which are often seen as “hard-to-reach”, particularly for research purposes. The advancing Migrant Access to health Services in Europe (aMASE) study is part of a five year project funded by the European Commission which aimed to examine the barriers to HIV testing, treatment and care services for migrant communities through clinic-based and web-based surveys. To ensure the success of the study a Community Mobilisation and Engagement Project (CMEP) was established so that needs of migrants and people living with HIV remained central to the aMASE study and that target populations were recruited to the web-based “community” survey. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Fifteen individuals representing migrant/HIV focussed community-based organisations (CBOs) in nine countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom) were appointed to a Community Advisory Group (CAG) led by a paid chairperson. An iterative participatory approach between the CAG and the aMASE research team was used to develop the survey instrument and the survey promotional materials including a study website. CAG members were contracted to deliver outreach meetings, with the aim of mobilising other organisations within their country to promote aMASE using socail media and small media (e.g. postcards /mini- cards). The CAG also allowed participants to complete the survey on laptops/devices on their premises. In total, 50 outreach meetings were held and over 18,000 small media items were disseminated. Just over half (54%) of the 1140 respondents to the community survey reported that they were referred to the survey by a community based organisation (15% directly naming a CAG or CAG-associated organisation). | ||||
| Discussion: This project shows the importance of meaningfully involving communities in HIV research as the success of the aMASE survey was highly dependent on CAG. For example, the survey was disseminated against a back of a politicised anti-immigration debate. The CAG sensitised the research team to survey questions that may have been viewed negatively (and lead to disengagement) by migrant communities. Additionally the CAG provided questions that were pertinent to migrant communities. The long timeframe involved in research projects like aMASE presented some implementation challenges due to austerity cuts across Europe many CBOs and research institutions were de-funded during the course of the project limiting resources to promote aMASE and increasing staff turn-over. Additional funding to directly support all individuals within the CAG might have been beneficial. The successful and inclusive combination of using small media and promotional meetings will be used to facilitate the dissemination of the research findings back to communities, ensuring timely translation of research in to practice. | ||||
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