Excellent progress has been made towards ending the AIDS pandemic, however, eliminating further spread of the virus remains a challenge as members of many minority communities are unaware that they are at risk.
Communication campaigns are vital to raise awareness and prevent the spread of HIV. The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) found their campaigns were driving high engagement among gay and bisexual men but failed to engage ethnic minority at-risk groups. THT commissioned Verian to develop a more inclusive qualitative approach to their message testing and audience insight work.
Approach
We designed a multi-phase, community-driven methodology that progressively widened inclusivity while being agile, highly tailored and sensitive to our diverse target audiences which included heterosexual Black Africans, Black Caribbeans and Eastern European migrants, and gay and bisexual men and transgender people.
Phase 1 included 41 online depth interviews, providing a safe environment to build the rapport needed to discuss highly sensitive topics and unpick the potential cultural and community factors influencing behaviour. These insights were used to develop behaviour maps for different communities, and to inform Phase 2 design and recruitment.
In between phases, 12 participants were recruited as community-researchers who became gateways to their wider community, recruiting friends/family to participate in Phase 2. This allowed us to access a wider sample of minority participants and include seldom heard voices.
Phase 2 comprised 6 online participatory workshops to gather feedback on campaign materials and refine and validate the behaviour maps developed using the insights from Phase 1. The community approach encouraged participants to speak openly, and moderators facilitated sensitive discussion of individual perspectives. Using the behaviour maps helped remove the stigma of discussing sexual health and encouraged honesty about barriers.
Impact
This study provided invaluable insight for future campaign optimisation and we presented the findings to a large audience of health care professionals at the National HIV Prevention Conference.
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