Communities can mobilize to test : findings from a community randomized trial of a theory-based community mobilization intervention in South Africa

• Background: While community mobilization (CM) is a powerful toolto increase and sustain demand for HIV testing services, few rigoroustrials of CM interventions have been conducted. We implementeda theory-driven CM intervention in order to improve HIV outcomesin 22 communities participating in a community randomized trial(CRT) in a rural area of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Themobilization activities were designed to improve community collaboration to address HIV and inequitable gender norms.Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted with 5055residents ages 1835 in each village prior to (n=1181; 2012) andfollowing (n=1174; 2014) two years of intensive intervention activities in half of the villages. Intervention activities mapped onto sixdomains of CM: 1) shared concern around HIV, 2) community consciousness, 3) organizational structures, 4) leadership, 5) communitycohesion and 6) collective action. Validated domain measures wereincluded in the surveys and mean community CM scores werecomputed and used to predict HIV testing in the past year for eachdomain and for total CM scores. We used GEE logistic regressionanalysis to assess the effect of village level CM domain scores onindividual-level testing outcomes and included interaction terms toassess intervention effects at follow-up.Results: The overall CM score as well as three of six CM domains,including consciousness, concerns, collective action, were significantlyassociated with HIV testing following the intervention and interactedwith intervention assignment. For example, for every standard deviation increase in community consciousness, the odds of HIV testingincreased for intervention village participants (OR: 1.36, p=<0.01)but not for control village participants. Similar findings for total CMscore (OR: 1.51), shared concerns (OR: 1.62) and collective action (OR:1.45) indicate that the intervention successfully improved HIV testing.Leadership, presence of organizations and community cohesion werenot significantly associated with HIV testing at end line.Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first CRT assessing atheory-based CM intervention including quantitative measures ofCM domains over time. While not all of the six domains were associated with HIV testing uptake, we found clear evidence that communities can be mobilized and that CM measures are associated withimproved engagement in HIV testing.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Infektionsmedicin (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Infectious Medicine (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper -- Immunologi inom det medicinska området (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Basic Medicine -- Immunology in the medical area (hsv//eng)

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