Tailored health interventions have been found to be effective in various areas of health promotion because of their delivery of customized content, which focuses the prevention messages more closely on the individual's risk behavior. However, the use of tailored interventions in the prevention of STD/HIV has been limited, and there is a void in the literature on translating tailored interventions into practice. This paper discusses the process of translating a tailored, self-help, technology-driven STD/HIV prevention intervention from research-to-practice. Three agencies were selected during the translation process to test the intervention materials and provided valuable lessons learned for translating a tailored intervention into practice. A racially diverse group of more than 250 women in six states participated in the intervention during this pilot test. Lessons learned for research-to-practice efforts for tailored interventions are presented, including expanding the reach of such interventions by making them more compatible for mobile technology.

Translating evidence-based HIV/STD prevention interventions and research findings into applicable HIV prevention practice has become an important challenge for the fields of community psychology and public health due to evidence-based interventions and evidence-based practice being given higher priority and endorsement by federal, state, and local health department funders. The Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) for Dissemination and Implementation and the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) Research-to-Practice model both address this challenge. The DHAP model and the ISF are each presented with a brief history and an introduction of their features from synthesis of research findings through translation into intervention materials to implementation by prevention providers. This paper describes why the ISF and the DHAP model were developed and the similarities and differences between them. Specific examples of the use of the models to translate research to practice and the subsequent implications for support of each model are provided. The paper concludes that the ISF and the DHAP model are truly complementary with some unique differences, while both contribute substantially to addressing the gap between identifying effective programs and ensuring their widespread adoption in the field.

The concept of core elements was developed to denote characteristics of an intervention, such as activities or delivery methods, presumed to be responsible for the efficacy of evidence-based behavioral interventions (EBIs) for HIV/AIDS prevention. This paper describes the development of a taxonomy of core elements based on a literature review of theoretical approaches and characteristics of EBIs. Sixty-one categories of core elements were identified from the literature and grouped into three distinct domains: implementation, content and pedagogy. The taxonomy was tested by categorizing core elements from 20 HIV prevention EBIs disseminated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results indicated that core elements represented all three domains but several were difficult to operationalize due to vague language or the inclusion of numerous activities or constructs. A process is proposed to describe core elements in a method that overcomes some of these challenges. The taxonomy of core elements can be used to identify core elements of EBIs, strengthen the translation of EBIs from research to practice and guide future research seeking to identify essential core elements in prevention interventions.