Structure and activities of agencies providing HIV and AIDS education and prevention to Latina/Latino communities

Community agencies play an important role in HIV and AIDS education and prevention. On the other hand, important distinctions among these agencies many times go unrecognized by policy makers and program planners. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in the structure and activities of Latina/Latino and non-Latina/Latino agencies that both provide HIV and AIDS education and prevention services to Latina/Latino communities. A total of 280 agencies in countries in four regions of California (the Los Angeles area, the Bay area, the Central Valley, and counties that fell outside these three regions) were surveyed regarding agency characteristics and type and extent of HIV and AIDS education and prevention activities. One hundred eighty-one surveys were returned, a return rate of 65%. Non-Latina/Latino agencies were larger, in terms of staff size, offered a wider range of services, and utilized more volunteer staff than Latina/Latino agencies. Latina/Latino agencies were smaller in size and had more bilingual staff than non-Latina/Latino agencies. Latina/Latino agencies utilized local Spanish-language media more than non-Latina/Latino agencies, and Latina/Latino agencies were more likely to have had their education and prevention activities reported on by local Spanish-language media than non-Latina/Latino agencies. Latina/Latino agencies were more likely than non-Latina/Latino agencies to educate and to show educational videos to one or two persons at a time. Non-Latina/Latino agencies were more likely to do education and prevention activities with migrant farm-workers. There was also an effect of geographic region on types of education and prevention activities.