Degree Name

MA in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management

First Advisor

Charlie Curry-Smithson

Abstract

The following is a case study of agencies in Seattle, WA who provide HIV testing followed by an evaluation tool for the agencies to determine the role of incentivizing HIV testing. Some agencies I interviewed provide incentives for the testing and others do not.

This Capstone will focus on six agencies currently providing HIV testing and provides a tool for agencies to use to attempt to answer the following question: In the face of reduced funding for HIV prevention and a mandate to continue to push for increasingly getting more Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) tested for HIV, what role does providing an incentive play?

Through key informant interviews with implementing agency staff it was discovered that none of the agencies are evaluating the effectiveness of providing an incentive for HIV testing. However all of them felt if funding were to be reduced the first thing to be cut would be the HIV testing incentive.

None of the agencies interviewed were interested in implementing a monitoring and evaluation plan, inclusive of log-frames and budget. They all agreed that they did not have the time, budget or expertise to monitor a plan. They were also clear that they would not be interested if this plan was not going to be required by Public Health Seattle-King County, who funds most of the programs.

Through discussions with the agencies that were interviewed and contract monitoring staff with Public Health, they all felt that if they had a simple tool to measure the effectiveness of incentivized HIV testing it would be valuable in their program planning.

With feedback from implementing agencies, the author has developed a short, client administered survey in both English and Spanish, that will assist Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in determining the effectiveness of a client receiving an incentive, free testing or donation request for HIV testing.

Knowing that most of the CBOs do not have extra funding, staff or expertise to implement a large-scale evaluation, the tool that has been developed does not require extra staff time, expertise or funding.

This analysis links the author’s professional, graduate school course-work and practicum experience. Recommendations include utilizing the evaluation tool to determine the effectiveness of incentivized HIV testing.

Question: In the face of reduced HIV prevention funding and pressure to continue to test MSM, especially Latino and Black MSM, does providing an incentive for testing increase the likelihood that MSM will get tested for HIV?

Disciplines

Other Public Health

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