A research-based HIV intervention in northeast Thailand.

This paper presents a case study of the development, implementation and evaluation of an HIV prevention strategy for rural, married women in the northeastern, Isan region of Thailand. The strategy is based on established principles of behaviour change, social learning, and community health promotion; grounded in baseline research, that identifies relevant contextual factors; community-based; evaluated; and applicable elsewhere. The methodology of the project includes four phases: data collection, strategy design, implementation, and evaluation. Baseline data were collected from an age-stratified sample of married women from 24 randomly chosen villages in Khon Kaen province in two waves. A total of 654 women participated in structured face-to-face interviews and 150 also participated in focus groups. Using the baseline data, a health promotion strategy including three components was designed: meetings with and training of village leaders and health workers; a five-part week long audio-drama, together with posters and other publicity conducted in villages; and village meetings to discuss the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on the village and to establish a village strategy to address this. This paper reports the results of the baseline data collection, how the data were used to produce an HIV prevention initiative for rural villages, results of the process evaluation and future development in HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives in this region.