Introduction and background: The arsenal of interventions to reduce the disproportionate rates of HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) infection among Latinos in the United States lags behind what is available for other populations. The purpose of this project was to develop an intervention that builds on existing community strengths to promote sexual health among immigrant Latinas.
Methods: Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership engaged in a multistep intervention development process. The steps were to (1) increase Latina participation in the existing partnership, (2) establish an intervention team, (3) review the existing sexual health literature, (4) explore health-related needs and priorities of Latinas, (5) narrow priorities based on what is important and changeable, (6) blend health behavior theory with Latinas' lived experiences, (7) design an intervention conceptual model, (8) develop training modules and (9) resource materials, and (10) pretest and (11) revise the intervention.
Results: The MuJEReS intervention contains five modules to train Latinas to serve as lay health advisors (LHAs) known as "Comadres." These modules synthesize locally collected data with other local and national data, blend health behavior theory with the lived experiences of immigrant Latinas, and harness a powerful existing community asset, namely, the informal social support Latinas provide one another.
Conclusion: This promising intervention is designed to meet the sexual health priorities of Latinas. It extends beyond HIV and STDs and frames disease prevention within a sexual health promotion framework. It builds on the strong, preexisting social networks of Latinas and the preexisting, culturally congruent roles of LHAs.
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