SISTA
Sisters Informing Sisters on Topics about AIDS (SISTA) Project, is a social-skills training intervention for women. It is aimed at reducing HIV sexual risk behavior. It is comprised of five 2-hour sessions, delivered by peer facilitators in a community-based setting. The sessions are gender-specific and culturally relevant and include behavioral skills practice, group discussions, lectures, role-playing, viewing of prevention videos, and take-home exercises.
Core elements are critical features of an intervention’s intent and design and are responsible for its effectiveness; they must be maintained WITHOUT alteration. Staff providing this intervention must have completed the required training.
The following are the core elements of SISTA
- Convene small-group sessions to discuss the session objectives, model skills development, role-play women’s skills acquisition, and address the challenges and joys of being an African American transgender woman
- Use skilled African American peer facilitators to implement SISTA group sessions
- Use cultural and gender-appropriate materials to acknowledge pride, enhance self-worth in being an African American transgender woman (e.g., us of poetry by African American women)
- Teach women to communicate both verbally and non-verbally to show she cares for her partner and needs to protect herself (i.e., negotiation skills, assertive communication skills)
- Instruct women on how to effectively and consistently use condoms
- Discuss cultural and gender-related barriers and facilitators to using condoms (e.g., provide information on African American women’s risk of HIV infection), and
- Emphasize the importance of partner’s involvement in safer sex (i.e., enhance partner norms supportive of condom use.
To date we have implemented SISTA to more than 15,000 Strong Women!
ARTAS (Anti-Retroviral Treatment
and Access to Service)
Anti-Retroviral Treatment and Access to Services (ARTAS) is an intervention designed to link individuals who have been recently diagnosed with HIV to medical care. ARTAS is based on a case management model that encourages a client to establish an effective working relationship with a Linkage Coordinator.
PrEP Linkage