Assessing organizational capacity to deliver HIV prevention services collaboratively: tales from the field.

Collaborative efforts between university researchers and community entities such as citizen coalitions and community-based organizations to provide health prevention programs are widespread. The authors describe their attempt to develop and implement a method for assessing whether community organizations had the organizational capacity to collaborate in a national study to prevent HIV infection among young men who have sex with men and what, if any, needs these institutions had for organizational capacity development assistance. The Feasibility, Evaluation Ability, and Sustainability Assessment (FEASA) combines qualitative methods for collecting data (interviews, organizational records, observations) from multiple sources to document an organization's capacity to provide HIV prevention services and its capacity-development needs.

Stakeholders' opinions regarding important measures of nursing home quality for consumers.

This article reports on a survey of opinions about specific categories and indicators of quality used by the Health Care Financing Administration in the survey and certification process for nursing homes in the US. The survey was conducted of a selected sample of administrators, directors of nursing, state survey agency training coordinators, state ombudsmen, and nursing home advocates in 1996. General patterns of agreement were found across all respondent groups that the 3 most important categories of quality were as follows: quality of care, quality of life, and residents' rights.

Variations and trends in state nursing facility capacity: 1978-93.

The demand for nursing facility (NF) beds has been growing with the aging of the population and many other factors. As the need for nursing home care grows, the Nation's capacity to provide such care is the subject of increasing concern. This article examines licensed NFs and beds, presenting data on trends from 1978-93.

The viability of abstinence in an inner city adolescent population.

The purpose of our study was to investigate the different variables that lead teenagers to have sex, the psychological consequences they face as a result of having sex, and the viability of abstinence as an alternative. We used an anonymous self-administered questionnaire to address such issues as age of first intercourse and influence of family, peers, and physical consequences (ie, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and AIDS). Our research concluded that not only are teens having sexual intercourse at early ages, but that this early experience may be having detrimental consequences on their levels of self-esteem.