History
Recognizing the critical need for HIV prevention programs for young gay/bisexual men, Dr. Susan Kegeles and Dr. Robert Hays, research psychologists at the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) at the University of California, San Francisco, applied for funding to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to design, implement, and evaluate a community-level HIV prevention program for young gay/bisexual men. Their five-year grant was awarded in 1990.
They pilot tested the program in Santa Cruz, CA. Based on encouraging results there, they refined the program and implemented it in a second community (Eugene, OR), where it was named the Mpowerment Project. Following the program's success in Eugene, it was replicated in Santa Barbara, CA. In 1995 Drs. Kegeles and Hays received a second five-year grant form the NIMH to further develop the program for use in major metropolitan areas across the U.S. Dr. Greg Rebchook, a research psychologist who had worked at a department of public health and at a community-based organization, joined the team in 1996. This new grant enabled them to implement the Mpowerment Project in Albuquerque, NM – where the project was called MPower (1997–1998); and in Austin, TX – where the project was called Austin Men's Project / AMP (1999–2000). Since 2002, numerous organizations have implemented the program with varying success.
The Mpowerment Project is cost-effective compared with many other HIV prevention strategies. The cost per HIV infection prevented is far less than the lifetime medical costs of HIV disease. In 2005 the RAND Corporation developed a mathematical model of the cost of a wide variety of HIV prevention interventions. The Mpowerment Project is listed as the most cost-effective intervention.
The Mpowerment manual was released in 2002 and updated in 2010. The individually bound modules cover the following program components:
- Module 1: Overview
- Module 2: Community Assessment – Knowing your community
- Module 3: Implementing Agency
- Module 4: Coordinators
- Module 5: Core Group & Volunteers
- Module 6: Project Space
- Module 7: Formal Outreach – Social outreach events and outreach team
- Module 8: Informal Outreach
- Module 9: M-Groups
- Module 10: Publicizing the Mpowerment Project
- Module 11: The Community Advisory Board
- Module 12: Monitoring and Evaluation
- Module 13: M-Group Facilitator’s Guide
- Module 14: M-Group Meeting Guide
Read more about this topic: The Mpowerment Project
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