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Meaningful engagement of people living with HIV who use drugs: methodology for the design of a Peer Research Associate (PRA) hiring model
Summary
The "nothing about us without us" strategy encourages people who use drugs (PWUD) to participate in HIV policy and programme development. The GIPA/MIPA movement, as well as community-based participatory research (CBPR), have emphasised the inclusion of lived experience in research. To address power inequalities and promote community trust, the study created a hiring process for PRAs (peer research associates). The hiring process involved establishing a hiring team, creating a job posting, holding interviews, and selecting PRAs based on competencies and community involvement. Over the course of two years, the strategy successfully hired five PRAs, giving unique employment opportunities and contributing to the CBPR initiative.
Key Findings
Key findings related to emerging/promising principles for engaging PWLLE:
- Nothing about us without us
- GIPA/MIPA
- Community based participatory research – engage affected communities and CBOs while centering them in decision making and knowledge generation process
- Acknowledge power imbalance between researchers and participants – PRA s can mitigate the power imbalance
- Trust – PRAs are shown to have more community trust and are able to reach to hard-to-reach populations
- Validity of self-reported data – the shared experience of PRAs is expected to increase the discourse and validity of participants self-reported data, thereby increasing the quality of research data.
- Inclusivity and equitable representation – equitable engagement of communities affected by HIV, and people who use drugs that were historically excluded from research positions.
Key findings related to emerging/promising practices for engaging PWLLE:
- Nothing about us without us approach – involve people with lived experience in all aspects of program development.
- Meaningful and egalitarian participation – ensure that political and research agenda are relevant and genuinely improve the lives of people with lived and living experience.
- Community based participatory research – affected communities and CBOs at the centre of decision making and knowledge generation.
- Involvement of PRAs in employment roles – can effectively contribute to data collection, increase the validity of the collected data, improve community trust, and can reach out to hard-to-reach populations
- Address ethical, methodological, and logistical gaps in hiring PRAs – The described hiring process in the literature addresses these gaps and promote meaningful engagement of PWLLE in research.
Key Findings Related Implementation Approaches:
- Hiring model – aimed to develop and implement a low-barrier hiring process, ensuring the equitable representation and engagement of communities of PLHIV who use illicit drugs that have been previously excluded from paid positions within research initiatives
- Establishing and composition of hiring team (Refer to Fig 1 )
- Development and dissemination of job posting (Refer to figure 2)
- interviewing applicants – In 2013, a total of 49 people submitted for two PRA jobs, and 21 candidates who satisfied the essential competences were chosen for the first-round interview after an initial screening. To ensure compliance with DPAF Human Resources standards, the interview questions were designed collectively with participation from the hiring committee and research team. Hiring process included two rounds of interviews in which candidates were evaluated using particular criteria and scored using a letter grade system. To enhance transparency and appreciation for their application, candidates were notified if they were unsuccessful in each stage of the hiring process.
Other Resource Materials
- Fig 1: Peer Research Associate Hiring Organizational Chart
- Fig 2: Peer Research Associate Hiring Schedule
- Additional File 1: Supplementary information – Job application form
- Additional file 2: Interview guide
