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Background: Safe in the City (SitC)—a brief, user-friendly video-based STD/HIV prevention intervention—has been shown to reduce new incident sexually transmitted infections among STD clinic patients in a multi-site controlled trial. Recently it was included in the CDC’s Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) program portfolio. Between June 2008 and September 2009, 1,998 agencies ordered the intervention.
Objectives: To assess the adoption of SitC among clinics and health agencies and identify challenges to implementation.
Methods: Health agencies ordering the SitC interventions kit from the DEBI website identified their clinic type for showing the video, as well as indicated their need for technical assistance (TA). From all agencies ordering SitC between June and November 2008, those needing TA as well as a random sample of STD clinics were selected to participate in two telephone surveys about their implementation and use of the intervention. Baseline surveys were conducted in November and December 2008; follow-up surveys were conducted between March and May 2009.
Results: Of the 424 agencies ordering SitC, 128 were selected to participate in the surveys, with 87 (70.0%) completing the baseline, and 81 (93.1%) the follow-up. Most were STD clinics (80%) and had a median annual patient volume of 2500. At the baseline survey, conducted on average 117 days after receipt of the intervention, 40% of clinics reported showing the video. At the follow-up survey conducted 250 days after its receipt, 57% of clinics were showing the video. Among reasons for not showing the video, lack of a television and/or DVD player and finding the intervention’s content inappropriate were cited most frequently, at 31% and 15% respectively.
Conclusions: More than half of clinics receiving SitC reported implementing the intervention within a year after its receipt.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: The development and diffusion of brief, user-friendly video-based interventions can result in their rapid and widespread adoption in clinic settings.