Research for Social Change: UW-Milwaukee Professor of Nursing, Patricia E. Stevens, spent five years investigating the impact that HIV has had on 55 women living with HIV across Wisconsin. Seven per cent of the 55 women were English-speaking Latinas. In 2007, Professor Stevens wished to extend the In-Depth Longitudinal Study of HIV-Infected Women to monolingual Latinas living in the city of Milwaukee. The Center for Urban Population Health funded her project with an additional twist: incorporation of a dynamic Community Advisory Board (CAB). The members would provide guidance to the investigation of the health issues and resource needs of 15 Latina women living with HIV in the city of Milwaukee. A bilingual Hispanic public health professional was hired to coordinate and implement the project.
Latino professionals from several local non-profit organizations who work directly with Latinos affected by HIV and a lay-community member comprise the board. CAB members have been integral to the success and fidelity of the project. For example, the relationship two CAB members had with the 15 participants guaranteed recruitment. Also, each of them provided space to conduct the interviews privately and securely.
The CAB members are fiercely focused on social change and insist the findings contribute to policy and system change outcomes, which naturally falls in line with the principles of community-based participatory research. It is here where we are making progress. The Board is ready to take on the continued dissemination of the findings and creating recommendations for policy and practice.
The project coordinator has been charged with the important task of contacting all study participants to not only communicate findings face-to-face, but to also solicit their input on use of the information they all shared about their lives. They will be kept abreast of the progress and accomplishments along the way and asked for continued feedback.
The CAB has proven to be a great asset in the research project; most significantly by assuring the research participants that the time they provided has not been in vain.
