Center for Prevention Implementation Methodology for Drug Use and HIV (Ce-PIM)

PROJECT SUMMARY This application for a competing renewal of the Center for Prevention Implementation Methodology for HIV and Drug Abuse (Ce-PIM; P30DA027828, Brown PI) aims to fill this gap by focusing on methodologic challenges needed to achieve the National HIV/Aids Strategy (NHAS). The major premise of this application is that while efficacious interventions for reducing HIV incidence already exist, the goals of NHAS cannot be achieved until these interventions are successfully implemented in ways that meet individual, community, and health care delivery system needs. The emerging field of implementation science holds the key to reducing HIV incidence, but using this tool requires the development and application of new methodologies to support implementation, both in research and in practice. In implementation science we rely on systems science methods—including network science and agent-based modeling—to model implementation and the consequent changes in behavior as a complex system comprising interactions within and across different levels, ranging from the genetic level to individuals to the health care system. The focus of this proposal is on developing, applying, and disseminating this new prevention implementation methodology to achieve the full potential of recent developments in testing, treatment, and prevention of HIV. Two Cores, an Administrative Core and an Innovative HIV Prevention Implementation Methods Core will carry out this work.