A Rapid Assessment of Community-Wide HIV/STI Intervention in China

The current study developed, applied and evaluated a rapid tool for assessing community-wide HIV/STD intervention (CWI) in China. CWI needs continuous monitoring and evaluation; however, the methodology for CWI assessment is generally lacking.

The researchers randomly selected and surveyed 120 county-level respondents in charge of countywide responses to HIV/STD throughout China. Investigators used a structured inventory consisting of three tiers of indicators. Respondents were asked to rate each of the indicators on a 1-5 scale. Thirty pairs of the same staff from within Anhui Province were surveyed to gauge inter-rater reliability.

Response rate for the nationwide survey was 85 percent and 90 percent for the inter-rater reliability survey. Correlation coefficients between inter-rater ratings ranged from 0.68 to 0.95. The overall average rating of CWI in China was 2.85. Average ratings for the six first-tier indicators -- organization and policy development, goals and objectives settings, project and action planning, resource exploitation, project and task implementation, and CWI evaluation -- were 2.87, 2.83, 2.67, 2.77, 3.26 and 2.71, respectively. Ratings for the 24 second-tier indicators ranged from 2.1 to 3.86. Ratings for the 96 third-tier indicators ranged from 1.90 to 4.40.

"The instrument developed proved to be reliable, useful and easily applicable in common communities," the researchers concluded. "Application of it in China revealed that a large gap exists between desired and actual CWI, and areas meriting particular attention include policy and incentives development, intervention planning and evaluation, and fund raising and utilization."

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