The program began a year ago, with 520 participants to date. Peragallo is recruiting now for the next phase of the project and hopes to have a total of more than 700 participants by the project's end. To develop the initial program, Peragallo and collaborators in the College of Nursing and the department of sociology conducted a series of focus groups to learn what issues Latino women found important and what they wanted from an AIDS prevention program. The sessions, conducted over the course of six weeks, are facilitated by trained bilingual and bicultural nurses. Through role-playing, participants practice talking more openly with their partners and learn negotiating skills to avoid risky sexual behaviors.
Discussion fosters an atmosphere in which participants feel free to ask any questions they have.
According to Peragallo, one difficulty in decreasing HIV infection rates in the Latino community has been the lack of access to information about the risk of contracting AIDS - in particular, information in Spanish. Furthermore, studies, including preliminary data from Project SEPA, have shown that condom use is low in this population. Recruitment for the next SEPA program starts Monday, Feb. 28. The program itself will start April 4. With 25,000 students, the University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest and most diverse university in the Chicago area.