Group Meeting 7

Group members met following class to prepare for Tuesday night's Focus Group and completed the following:

• Reviewed basic statistics on HIV/AIDS in Utah.
• Discussed how we wanted to begin the meeting 
• Established ground rules to share with the group before beginning our discussion.
• Discussed the questions we wanted to ask and how we wanted to approach asking them. 
• Assigned roles to different group members:
•  Karl- main facilitator (we all agreed to participate in the conversation and jump in when it seemed appropriate)
•  Kilei agreed to be the primary note-taker. 

Community meeting 7

Tonight we held our first focus group. All four of us as group members were able to be in attendance and there were six men who came to the focus group. The following is the collection of notes I took while at the focus group  (FG).

FG's prior knowledge of HIV - there is no cure, it is no longer a death sentence, should wear condoms to not get HIV or abstain from sex

FG mentioned having gained their knowledge from family members, the LGBT Youth Center, but not at school as there is an abstinance only program taught in Utah schools

FG members have either not attended any focus groups or classes before this group or they have attended some community classes such as those held at the Outreach Center in Ogden. The Outreach program primarily targeted youth at the time the group member went there and they had condoms available as well as information.

When asked about HIV Testing these were the responses of the FG, testing has been done through their GP, through the Military (The military provides annual testing and additional tests can be requested), at Planned Parenthood, and at the Utah Aids Foundation

Identified barriers to testing included, not knowing where to go, cultural and religious barriers, insufficient knowledge of when to get tested and how often, fear of social stigma, fear of being positive so they would prefer to remain untested

The FG said that within the community HIV is a conscientious concern and they felt it should be a greater concern in the wider general population as well

The FG was asked what services they knew about that the UAF provided and the following was known, free testing is available, condoms are available, information on the affordable care act is available, physician information is available and various services for people living with HIV. It was also presented to the focus group that counseling, case management, prevention strategies and avenues for sharing prevention knowledge are also available.

A FG member shared that he didn't really know what to specifically share with his GP in regards to his sex lif and individual risk factors such as number of partners

The following were additional concerns and thoughts mentioned by FG members, there are cultural taboos with different clinics where some will label you as high risk whether you are or not, some clinics automatically assume you are high risk or that you are not using protection if you share with them just one thing, there is a fear of sharing too much with a GP because it is unknown what they will place on your record and you may be labeled and have future struggles with insurance related to this labeling

In discussing prevention program ideas with the FG, the following ideas were brought up,
attach UAF resources to clubs on college campuses
place adds on banner sites for social media
determine better ways to more fully utilize the UAF website
Word of mouth
hold a food drive and provide information about prevention
website incentive programs (these would likely not be a good avenue to reach teens but maybe effective with adults who do not share the same fears about using a home computer for research
have booths at job fairs where teens may go so they can obtain information while not being observed by parents or other authority figures
hold meet up events
list events on sites such as Whats Happening Utah
sponsor sports teams
have board game nights
have booths at farmers markets
have someone or a group of people assigned as event promoters to help get the word out about events and personally invite people to attend

The final thing we discussed in the focus group tonight was the types of items that could most effectively be used as incentives. These included, restaurant gift cards, movie passes, candy, end of season parties for sports teams

The Focus Group was held from 6pm to 7pm.

Group Meeting 6

We met as a group after class this week to discuss avenues we would like to explore with our newly identified target population and agency. We talked about who could attend the flier distribution Wednesday evening and who could attend the focus group Tuesday evening next week.
The flier Distribution will take place at the Dancing Crane shop at 6pm Wednesday the 22nd.
The focus group will be held Tuesday the 28th at the Utah Aids Foundation, also at 6pm.

We talked about the importance of finding out what the community wants, what Keith (our new contact wants) and what we are realistically able to provide and accomplish and finding a way to mesh the three as best as possible.

Possible interventions we could put in place were also discussed, particularly as they relate to out current understanding of needs centered around prevention awareness for teens and young adults. Some of these ideas included informational brochures, and interactive video modulars (such as those made publicly available by the Canadian equivalent of the CDC which I learned about this summer).

Keith's interest/desire for an incentive program for meeting attendance was also discussed. We decided we needed more info from him in regards to what shape he would like this to take and what was available but that it was a good idea as it may get the people there which we need for the focus group to ultimately be successful.

Community Based Participatory Research Questions

Regarding our project working with the Utah Aids Foundation with a particular focus on gay men, we answered the following three questions posed in class: 

(1.) What additional information would you like to know?

• How well informed is the population? 
• For those who contracted HIV/AIDS more recently, how did it happen? 
• Did these individuals previously know about prevention methods and chose not to use them, or were they unaware?

• What gaps are there in the existing literature? 
• What is the perception of risk in Utah?
• What is the perception of the disease overall? 
• What is the common perception of the Utah Aids Foundation? Is there a stigma attached to using their services or coming to the center?
•  For those living with HIV/AIDS, what resources/supports are they currently aware of? Where do they stand in need?

(2.) Where could you acquire/secure this information? 

• Utah Aids Foundation and the resources it has to offer
• Community members 
• Local research being performed by organizations or colleges/universities. 

(3.) How would you acquire this information? 

• Focus groups (we have our first one next week!)
• Interviews with community members 
• Literature searches
• Consulting with experts, community organization leaders
• Health department records on statewide and national levels

First UAF meeting (C4)

On 10/16 Mary reported that she had received a note of interest from Keith Reynolds at the Utah AIDS Foundation.  He wanted to meet with us on 10/17 at 10 AM.

Because of the late notice and scheduling conflicts with work, only Mary and Karl were able to attend.  We met with Keith and got a tour of the UAF facility.  We then explained the nature of our project and confirmed that we could form an alliance with Keith and the UAF that would be mutually beneficial to our team, the UAF, and the community they serve as well.  We then began preliminary exploration of issues which affect the UAF mission and ways that we might be of service to the community.

The mission of the UAF is to educate community members about HIV transmission and prevention, provide testing for a variety of sexually transmitted infections, as well as support for those persons in Utah currently living with HIV/AIDS.  We identified that the primary population that Keith works with through the UAF is men who have sex with men (MSM), because this group is by far the most at-risk for contracting HIV.  We were able to identify the following challenges:

• Long term involvement from individuals in the community
• Interest and motivation for prevention education
• Ability to reach target population(s) in an effective manner with prevention programs
• Current rise in HIV transmission among IV drug users and apparent apathy in prevention from this particular subset of the population.  

We then discussed options for meeting with the community.  We decided that a focus group, to be held at the UAF would be the best option.  We have planned the focus group for 10/28.  Mary had created an announcement flyer to be distributed in the meantime, which she has forwarded to Keith for commentary, and agreement.

Team members will meet this week to discuss specifics of the focus group, including what ways to best reach attendees and discover the community's needs in relation to the UAF and HIV prevention/education/testing/care.

Group Meeting 5

Group members met in Karl's home to watch Before Stonewall, and the first portion of After Stonewall  in order to supplement their research and understanding of the LGBTQ movement in America. These two documentaries offer a history of the gay and lesbian movement in the US through historical footage and interviews with those who lived through it. 

Update on Pride Center (G5)

Stephen Ha finally returned Mary's messages, only to tell us that he would not be able to work with us after all.  This, after 3 weeks of giving us the runaround, cancelling scheduled appointments, and refusing to return many texts and phone calls.  We are baffled and dismayed by this behavior.

Group members are again making contacts with other community organizations with which to work.

Group Meeting 4

The group met on 10/7,  and discussed our plans to meet with Steven Ha the following day. We also discussed the possibility that if we continued having difficulty meeting with him, we would consider other possibilities.

On 9/30 the group met to discuss the status of our project.  Mary has made an appointment with Steven Ha at the Utah Pride Center for this Friday (which is, unfortunately, a night when the rest of the group cannot make the meeting, but is the only night in the next week when Steven can schedule us). Mary asked the other group members to provide pertinent questions for the meeting, which we compiled and emailed to her.