NCJ Number
130563
Journal
Druglink Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (May/June 1991) Pages: 12-14
Date Published
1991
Length
3 pages
Annotation
In 1988, the Drug Indicators Project was funded to survey HIV outreach projects in the United Kingdom to gain insight into the nature and extent of outreach work and to generate policy and practice guidelines.
Abstract
About 141 outreach projects were identified and sent a confidential postal questionnaire; there was a response rate of 79 percent. Findings indicate that outreach health education is a feasible way of identifying and contacting hard-to-reach populations in which HIV transmission behaviors are considered prevalent. Generally, detached projects were effective in reaching their target groups during the week before completing the questionnaire, although few attempted to contact specific ethnic groups. The five major guidelines for the planning of future outreach programs are: (1) encouraging outreach as a valuable strategy for offering feedback about clients' needs and perceptions of services; (2) requiring adequate resourcing in terms of investment of staffing and time for effective intervention; (3) providing succinct guidelines and assurances to workers in relation to working practices and safety; (4) using innovative, direct, and aggressive methods to contact clients; and (5) systematic and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of service development and delivery in order to match service response to client need. (Author abstract modified)