FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is the aim of this Coalition?                
   As part of the national initiative to end the HIV Epidemic (EtHE), this Coalition will guide the work of a Project Team that will spend a year exploring what HIV-related organizations in New York City are doing to address multiple stigmas and how that work interconnects with HIV prevention and care across the city. At the end of a year, we will have a comprehensive view of best practices to eliminate stigma and promote resilience, and we’ll identify gaps in anti-stigma efforts that remain to be addressed.                 
    
2. What stigmas is the STAR Coalition dealing with?                 
   The primary focus of the Coalition is on stigmas that interfere with optimal HIV prevention and treatment. This may be HIV stigma, but other stigmas, such as those related to ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, mental health, and substance use, also can affect HIV prevention and treatment. We will learn from our work as a Coalition how each of these stigmas is being addressed and what best practices we can find and build upon.                
    
3. Who is already involved in the Coalition?                
   Our goal is to involve agencies, groups, and individuals who are committed to reducing stigmas that work against optimal HIV prevention, care and treatment. Collaborating from the outset on this project are the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), New York State Department of Health (DOH), HIV Planning Group (HPG), and the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies and the Northeast-Caribbean Aids Education and Training Center, both at Columbia University. Members from these groups make up the Project Leadership responsible for organizing all project work.                
    
4. How will the work of the project get done?                
   In addition to the Coalition, there will be a Project Team comprised of several Activity Teams working on specific tasks. The Coalition advises both the Project Team and Project Leadership. Coalition members can advise and also become members of the Activity Teams if they have the time to devote to that work.                
    
5. What will the Project’s Activity Teams do?                
   With the support and guidance of the Coalition, the Activity Teams will:
   • Map out stigma and resiliency-related activities at NYC organizations through surveys and in-person interviews
   • Identify populations currently not being addressed by those efforts
   • Develop a collection of successful interventions and consensus around what successful implementation consists of
   • Host technical workshops and town hall meetings to get the input of experts and community members on what needs to be done
6. How much research will be involved?                
   During this planning year, there will be non-research activities, such as the sharing of best practices among agencies that join the Coalition, and other activities that will guide future implementation research, including a review of successful stigma and resiliency interventions, an assessment of ongoing HIV stigma-reduction activities in NYC, and a synthesis of what is known about stigma and HIV in NYC. The year’s activities are expected to lead to an implementation science proposal to be submitted to the National Institutes of Health as part of the EtHE funding initiative. Any future research activities will be guided by the Coalition’s input.                
    
7. What is implementation science and how can I learn more about it?                 
   On average, it takes 17 years for research findings to become part of routine health practice. To address this lag, implementation science began as the study of methods to promote the adoption and integration of evidence-based practices, interventions, and policies into routine health care and public health settings. We will introduce what implementation science is and how it relates to the Coalition in one of our meetings, and provide educational resources for those who are interested all along the way. An introduction to implementation science can be found at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4573926/ and at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fj7lhac5c8l7sjv/Palinkas 17Oct2019.mp4?dl=0.                
    
8. Will I be reimbursed for my participation in the Coalition?                
   There are several incentives for everyone who participates in the Coalition. These include: learning best practices for stigma elimination; networking with agencies, organizations, and individuals in NYC that are passionate about addressing stigma; discussing effective stigma reduction strategies with stigma experts brought in to assist with the project; and sharing your experience to help with planning and carrying out an implementation science project. Most of the limited budget for the year’s activities covers meetings and organizing expenses, so unfortunately there are no financial incentives for participating in the Coalition. If the stigma-related implementation science proposal gets funded down the road, there will be financial support for all parties involved in implementing that study. At this stage it is not clear what that study will look like, whether a research grant will be awarded, or who will be involved. But as a Coalition member, you will help to steer the planning process.                
    
9. What is the time commitment for Coalition members?                
   We estimate that there will be 6 Coalition meetings, lasting no more than 2 hours each, from now until September 2020. If you would like to get more hands-on and be part of designing and carrying out the planned activities, please join the Project Team. The Project Team has a monthly 1-hour call to review the Project’s progress. The Activity Teams have more regular meetings and require more time involvement. The Activity Teams will determine the pace of their work, but we can estimate that Activity Team members will spend a few hours each week carrying out the Team’s tasks.                
    
10. What will happen to the Coalition once the year is over?                
    The Coalition is established to support activities for the current year (September 2019 – September 2020). Once this year is over, if participation in the Coalition is meaningful and rewarding to its members, it is likely that we will find a way to continue its activities. It is also possible that the Coalition or some of its members will play a role in any future implementation science studies, if funded.                 
     
11. How are you handling communication and staying organized throughout this project?                
    The Project Team communicates through email and utilizes Basecamp to share and store resources. Basecamp is an easy-to-use online project management platform that helps teams stay productive and organized. Whether you join the Project Team or not, we plan to share widely the products of this project, such as documents around best practices for stigma reduction and resilience promotion. Coalition meetings will be in-person, but a phone line will be offered for remote attendance. Otherwise, we meet primarily by phone because our members work and live all around the city.                 
     
12. How do I get more information or sign up to be a Coalition member?                
    If you would like to sign up, please register here: https://cumc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9Fgiwg7B9l6JJxb                
    
    For answers to other questions, please email us at: nycstarcoalition@gmail.com. We are happy about your interest in the STAR Coalition!