PRC Center Core

PRC works with communities to develop, evaluate, and implement varied community research that can prevent and control chronic diseases, identify gaps in research, and translate research results into policy and public health practice. The PRC Core is engaged in five primary activities.

• Community Engagement, Partnerships, and Technical Assistance -  PRC facilitates the formation of strong partnerships and collaborations between scientists and community groups, which is broadly defined to include service providers, health care providers, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), public health departments, government agencies, policy makers, gatekeepers, and community members. Online and on demand Technical Assistance (TA) is provided to a variety of CBOs and Health Departments to strengthen their capacity. PRC responds to requests for information about HIV prevention science methods, instruments, research findings, and intervention models.
• Communications and Dissemination – PRC communication strategies are developed through strong community collaborations. The objectives of the communication plan are to enable dissemination of PRC activities and results to both lay and scientific audiences at the local, state, and national levels as well as national organization. These include factsheets, reports and monographs, survey instruments and scales, intervention curricula and FAQs. Findings from evidence-based interventions are synthesized and shared with target audiences via determined channels, such as the Division of Prevention Science website as well as our Facebook and Twitter.
• Evaluation – The PRC has established procedures to collect outcome and process data in order to document PRC activities and demonstrate their impact. This evaluation is also used to identify activities that should be modified to increase impact, productivity and quality.
• Infrastructure – PRC leadership maintains bidirectional communication between the University administrations and public health, CBO, and community partners. This ensures that the PRC’s mission and goals are understood by its collaborators in order to mobilize support for its activities and research. Two primary modalities of PRC-community communication are the Community Advisory Board and the PRC Forum.
• Training – PRC engages in education and training of clinicians (Residency Program), CBOs, public health partners, and community members through workshops and seminars.
• Translation - Building skills to better implement evidence-based strategies is integral to the development and evaluation of many HIV prevention evidence-based interventions and adaptations of these interventions. The PRC team has extensive expertise in both developing and evaluating evidence-based interventions, as well as in adapting them for ethnic/racial and sexual minority groups and implementing them in real-world settings.