Background
In August 2019, the Health Resources and Services Administration funded the Capacity Building in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) to Support Innovative Program Model Replication initiative through its Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) program. The initiative’s purpose was to enhance the capacity of RWHAP recipients and subrecipients to replicate evidence-informed interventions (EIIs) using program implementation tools, manuals, and other resources previously developed by HRSA. Dissemination and implementation of recent innovative tools, interventions, and manuals aim to reduce the impact of the HIV epidemic within metropolitan areas and states identified as disproportionately affected.
The University of California, San Francisco, was selected to provide capacity building assistance (CBA) and technical assistance (TA) to four jurisdictions: Las Vegas, New Orleans, Atlanta, and the State of Mississippi. The jurisdictions selected their EIIs to meet the needs of local populations with HIV and experiencing health disparities.
Approach
HRSA requested the formation of Learning Collaboratives (LCs) in each jurisdiction to serve as the vehicle for CBA provision. Although in-person learning sessions (LSs) were planned, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a change to all virtual meetings for all learning collaborative meetings and LSs until the last year of the initiative, when two of the four jurisdictions were able to conduct hybrid (both in-person and virtual) LSs.
Because of the change to virtual meetings, UCSF employed a unique, three-tiered structure to implement the learning collaboratives:
- UCSF Faculty served as faculty for the LCs, guiding the development and collection of performance measures for the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles of local organizations participating in the LCs. They also assisted UCSF Evaluation staff in their assessment of the CBA delivery itself.
- UCSF staff and contractors served as Coaches for the LCs, working to support the LC Planning Bodies, identifying training and TA resources and coordinating their provision, and supervising the delivery of TA to participating organizations. Coaches also assisted UCSF Evaluation staff in assessing CBA delivery.
- UCSF also funded Project Coordinators in each jurisdiction to work with the Coaches and Planning Bodies in planning LSs, training and TA provision, and the collection and evaluation of PDSA performance data.
Dissemination products (training resources, manuals, and other tools) are listed separately for ease of access by interested recipients. This content is introductory.