5th International AIDS Conference Montreal, Quebec, Canada — Jun 4-9, 1989

Int Conf AIDS 1989 Jun 4-9; 5:886 (abstract no. E.503)

Omi J, Jacques C, Rautenberg E, Hayes-Cozier R; New York City Department of Health, New York City, USA

OBJECTIVE: To describe the design and outcome of the NYCDOH technical assistance initiative for community based organizations under contract to provide AIDS prevention services.

METHODS: During the 12 month fiscal year 1988-89, NYCDOH let 30 contracts with community based organizations for the provision of AIDS education and outreach services. To facilitate the coordination and effectiveness of resultant programs, DOH staff provided technical assistance to the contractors. This assistance included program development, training, evaluation design, coordination of borough and city-wide collaborative efforts, and on-site program review.

RESULTS: Requests for technical assistance in the initial stages of the initiative were administrative in nature, i.e. clarification of fiscal and contractual policies and resource availability. Requests made by organizations later in the year concerned more programatic issues, i.e. staff training, outreach skills, development of referral sources, and evaluation.

CONCLUSION: The provision of technical assistance must be responsive to the specific needs of recipients. Several factors influenced need and demand for technical assistance, including geographic density of similar efforts; size, age and sophistication of agency; familiarity of agency with contract procedures; and complexity of service scope. Thus, a multi-tiered approach was utilized: 1) organizational development, 2) program and staff development, 3) quality assurance and evaluation, 4) review and expansion.

Keywords: AEGIS, Program Evaluation, Program Development, New York City, Cooperative Behavior, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Social Welfare, Organizational Objectives, education, ICA5

1989-06-04
E503

Copyright © 1989 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.