Across the Miles: Process and Impacts of Collaboration with a Rural Community Advisory Board in HIV Research.

Background: Project Education and Access to Services and Testing (EAST) worked with a community advisory board (CAB) to (1) identify individual-level, provider-level, and community-level factors influencing attitudes about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HIV/acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) research and (2) develop and test a community-based HIV clinical trials educational intervention in six rural counties in the Southeast.

Objectives: We describe the processes and impact of forming and collaborating with a rural, multicommunity CAB.

Methods: CAB members included community leaders, providers, and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). CAB engagement emphasized respect and confidentiality. Tape-recorded meeting minutes and debriefing notes were used in analysis.

Results: The CAB identified physical and social parameters of the communities, built community trust, informed research design and implementation, and helped to navigate the impact of stigma. Major barriers to engagement were distance and geographic dispersion.

Conclusions: CABs can make a critical difference in conducting culturally appropriate and successful research in rural communities.