Building capacity for HIV/AIDS prevention among Asian Pacific Islander organizations: the experience of a culturally appropriate capacity-building program in Southern California.
This article has two goals: (1) to outline a conceptual model for culturally appropriate HIV prevention capacity building; (2) to present the experiences from a 3-year program provided by Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team to Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations in southern California. The participating organizations were of two types: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) social organizations and social service agencies not targeting LGBTQ. These organizations were selected for participation because of their commitment to HIV/AIDS issues in API communities. An organizational survey and staff observations were used to explore changes in capacity. The organizations were mostly small, targeted diverse populations, served a large geographic area (southern California as a region), and were knowledgeable about HIV. Organizations became more viable (more capacity in human resources, financial, external relations, and strategic management), but also more unstable (large growth in paid staff and board members), and showed more capacity in HIV knowledge environments (especially less stigma and more sensitivity to diverse populations). The results suggest that capacity can expand over a short period of time, but as capacity increases, organizational viability/stability and HIV knowledge environments change, meaning that different types of technical assistance would be needed for sustainability.
Takahashi
Lois M
LM
Department of Urban Planning, University of California at Los Angeles, 90095, USA. takahash@spa.ucla.edu
Candelario
Jury
J
Young
Tim
T
Mediano
Elizabeth
E
D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D003144:Communication Barriers; D018672:Community Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005380:Financing, Government; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006290:Health Planning Technical Assistance; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000193:education; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011635:Public Health Administration; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology