Involving families in an urban HIV preventive intervention: How community collaboration addresses barriers to participation

This article addresses the increasing need within urban communities for effective, culturally relevant HIV prevention programs. The recruitment efforts of a family-based prevention program aimed at promoting health and preventing HIV risk exposure in urban, African American fourth and fifth grade children living in a community with high rates of HIV infection is detailed. The program, referred to as the CHAMP (Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project) Family Program, is overseen by a collaborative partnership of community parents, school staff, and university-based researchers (Paikoff and McKay, 1995). The recruitment strategies developed as a result of this community-research collaboration are described. Preliminary results of the project's efforts to reach out to families within the targeted, inner-city community are presented.