THIS FUNDING WILL ALLOW US CONDUCT VALUABLE RESEARCH ON THE NEEDS FACING GLBT ELDERS LIVING WITH HIV, CREATE AN HIV PREV - SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders) Center on Halsted (COH), supports this one-year research, training and advocacy project in collaboration with AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA), Founding SAGE (FS) and related senior service and HIV/AIDS groups. The goals of this project is to improve programs and services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older adults. The approach is to partner with established agencies to conduct research and training and to enhance service provision.
The objectives of this project are to: (1) survey 200 individuals regarding HIV risk behavior and health; (2) improve the quality of HIV prevention education by creating a prevention film with LGBT older adults; (3) train and deploy SAGE patrons as constituent advocates and educators; (4) train providers in culturally competent care; (5) increase gender and racial/ethnic diversity of program participants (6) improve data collection and program evaluation; (7) increase computer use by individuals with low vision and; (8) disseminate results.
The expected outcomes are: LGBT older adults, HIV/AIDS service providers, senior service providers, COH staff and the larger community will have a better understanding of LGBT aging and older adults and HIV; the HIV prevention film will be used as an outreach and education tool, constituent advocates will provide training and conduct advocacy on LGBT aging issues; and pre and post ¿ test training of senior services providers will reflect positive results from training. The products are: a final report; an HIV prevention film; data on HIV positive and at- risk older adults; enhanced computer resources, a member database; and conference abstracts and presentations.
