The Womens Collective

1. The Womens Collective Adapting a DEBI project for African American Women: Prosper and the Generations Project

2. 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

3. 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

4. Key Components of TWC • Women-Focused • Peer-Based • Family Centered • Women Living with HIV

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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;

8. 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.

9. Prevention Case Management • Addresses behavior change/modification • Provides information on HIV treatment/adherence information • Focuses on “meeting the woman where she is” • Incentives offered

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Pros and Cons of Adaptation cont. Cons: • Develop an additional evaluation component to measure the adapted curriculum

15. 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.

16. 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!

17. 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)

18. 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.

19. 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?

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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!”

23. Pictures of Program Participants

24. Pictures of Program Participants

25. Program Staff

26. Brainstorming and Q&A Thank you!!!

27. 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!!

28. The Women’s Collective 1436 U Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 202.483.7003 info@womenscollective.org ndidi@womenscollective.org